Adnan Patrawala

New Delhi, Sept. 5: The parents of 12-year-old Rajiv (name changed) had no clue that their son knew so much about sex. They did not know he spent his day discussing the subject with a stranger on social networking site Orkut.

The boy’s enthusiasm for the Internet seemed a little suspicious, though, and they decided to snoop. It probably saved Rajiv’s life.

With his “friend” pestering him for a meeting, it was just a matter of time before Rajiv would have given in.

“It was clearly a kidnapping trap. This person could also have molested the child before demanding a ransom,” said Pawan Duggal, the Supreme Court lawyer who was the counsel for the complainant in India’s first cyber-crime conviction.

More and more young Indians are networking with strangers on the web, unaware of the dangers that lurk.

Adnan Patrawala, the 16-year-old son of a Mumbai businessman, was kidnapped for ransom on August 18 and murdered by “friends” he had met on Orkut.

Adnan’s Orkut profile listed his passions — partying, driving his Skoda Octavia, cricket and the drum — providing clues to his status.

Many schools in Calcutta, such as La Martiniere for Boys and Apeejay School, have since then banned students from opening accounts on Orkut or uploading profiles.

Staying away from such sites, however, doesn’t always protect a person. A young journalist from a Delhi-based newspaper found that a profile with all her personal details had been uploaded on Orkut. The language was extremely suggestive with sexual overtones.

“Given the nature of her job, she chose not to take any action,” Duggal said. “But such crimes of a personal nature have risen sharply.”

Users are not the only ones struggling to grasp the complexity of cyberspace — the police are equally lost. Some of them even don’t know how to care for seized electronic equipment.

Delhi police had clinching evidence against an accused: they had seized floppies from his computer. But a constable attached the floppies to the case file, lest they be lost. The file’s metallic clips ruined the floppies’ magnetic strips.

The police, therefore, are often reluctant to register cases.

Also, with sites such as Orkut operating from outside the country, it’s difficult for the investigators to gather evidence.

So, says Duggal, the police prefer to use their tried and tested method of reducing complaints of crime: just be hostile to the victims.

“People prefer not to go through such humiliation and try and deal with the matter themselves,” the lawyer said. “Of every 500 cyber crimes, only 50 get reported and just one is registered.”