Shillong, July 12: Meghalaya police have set up an assistance cell to deal with the ever-growing and challenging cyber crimes in the state.

Announcing this here today, Meghalaya director-general of police S.K. Jain said the cyber assistance cell would start functioning from tomorrow at the police headquarters.

The cell has been set up in the cyber crime wing (CID) to render assistance to any person who is a victim of harassment/criminal activities through mobile phones or Internet.

These activities may be in the form of obscene calls and SMS on mobile phones, online pornography, cyber stalking, abuse in cyber space, online defamation, especially on social networking sites, harassment via email and others.

Jain said those who need assistance could contact the cell where their identity will be kept confidential.

At the same time, the individual would be assisted if such cases were to be further pursued by way of formal complaint at the police station concerned or at the cyber crime police station.

In April, the Meghalaya government had notified the installation of a cyber crime police station (CCPS) following the rise in cyber criminals and Internet fraudsters.

The police station is under the cyber crime wing of the CID. The CCPS has statewide jurisdiction and has the power to investigate cyber crimes where digital devices such as mobile phones and computers are used to commit offences. "Criminal activities in cyber space have been on the rise, but many people do not come forward to lodge complaints vis-à-vis cyber crimes while several individuals do not know where to report such cases," Jain said here. With the setting up of the cell, he said, citizens could now avail of assistance through phone calls or email or text messages.

While 24 police personnel have so far been trained to deal with cyber crime cases, he said regular trainings are required to cope with the ever-changing cyber world.

Stating that cyber crime was a "big challenge", Jain said in most of the cases, it was difficult to crack, as servers were located elsewhere, and sometimes even on foreign shores.

"Now we are ready to take on the challenges and we are keeping up pace with the progress that is happening around. We will be lagging behind if we don't," the DGP said. Those who wish to avail of any assistance from the cell can contact at 0364-2504001, 9615191002 or email at ccw-meg@gov.in.