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Counselling, skilling aim to wean Mewat youth away from cybercrimes
A meeting of Meo community elders and seminary teachers with the representatives of Samriddh Bharat Abhiyan at a madrasa in Kaman.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A unique intervention launched in the Mewat region, falling in north-eastern Rajasthan, has sought to wean the youth away from the cybercrimes for which the Bharatpur and Alwar districts have gained notoriety. During the last two years, the rural areas in the two districts have emerged as hubs of cyber frauds through which innocent people are duped and extorted for money.
‘Cyber fraudsters’ from Mewat have scammed people not just in Rajasthan, but also in far-off States such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam. Investigations have traced the cyber ‘criminals’ to Mewat, prompting the police to take up an anti-cybercrime campaign and launch a crackdown on the network of ‘fraudsters’.
“Operation Anti-Virus” of the police has found that a large number of youth belonging to the Meo community were reportedly deceiving people through investment lures, fake digital arrests, threats of disconnecting utilities and sextortion.
Several ‘fraudsters’ have made fake Facebook pages under the guise of women and lured men into friendship, only to blackmail them for money.
Fake gold bricks, coins
These youth, in the age group of 17 to 30 years, were earlier deceiving people by selling fake gold bricks and coins at cheap prices. In their changed modus operandi, the fraudsters have been scamming and blackmailing the victims with their smartphones despite the lack of a sophisticated network, leadership and crime structure.
The police have arrested about 500 cyber fraudsters this year in Bharatpur district alone, while unearthing call centres dedicated to cybercrimes in the villages.
A large number of mobile phones, SIM cards, swipe machines used for fund transfers and cash counting machines were also seized, while the illegal properties of the accused, built with the extorted money, were bulldozed.
Bharatpur-based Samriddh Bharat Abhiyan has launched efforts to establish regular communication with the young men who are attracted to cybercrimes and get involved in the frauds with their peer groups. The intervention was made initially by approaching the Meo community elders, who were invited to the madrasas in the region for interacting with the activists who were willing to help out the youth through counselling.
Held in madrasas
Abhiyan’s director Sita Ram Gupta told The Hindu that madrasa teachers and community elders were encouraged to convince the youth to not indulge in cybercrimes and apprise them of the legal consequences of their activities. These meetings have so far been organised in the seminaries at Kaman, Pahari and Gopalgarh in Bharatpur district.
Prominent members of the Meo community agreed that the entire Mewat region, which also spreads to neighbouring Haryana, was getting a bad name because of the criminal activities of some young people.
They pointed out that the principal reason for the youth getting attracted to cybercrimes was the rampant unemployment and lack of opportunities to earn livelihood in the region.
Mr. Gupta said the Abhiyan would shortly start measures to connect the Meo youth with initiatives such as poultry farming, pisciculture, beekeeping and skills development. A computer training centre has already been started in Kaman, where a large number of youth have enrolled and are attending regular classes.
Jobs for locals
The Jurehra industrial area in Bharatpur district holds the potential for employing the local youth in sectors such as oil and flour production, durri making, pickle production and corrugated box making. Mr. Gupta said the area’s development would help bring the Meo youth to the mainstream and wean them away from the field of crime.
“The proximity of Mewat region to Delhi, only 80 km away, will provide market to the products,” Mr. Gupta said. If the Abhiyan’s efforts succeed, there will be no need for opening a special cybercrime police station at Deeg, which was sanctioned recently.
A delegation of the Braj-Mewat Jan Jagriti Abhiyan met Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma during his visit to Bharatpur, his home district, earlier this week with the plea to connect the youth with the income generating activities and organise awareness camps in all village panchayats to give information about the government schemes helpful for them.
Jan Jagriti Abhiyan’s president M. Zubair Khan said steps such as subsidy for opening poultry farms, establishment of a fisheries institution and the safe transport of products to the markets in Delhi would go a long way to connecting the Meo youth with profitable ventures and reduce the scope for their entry into cybercrimes.
The delegation also requested the CM to ensure that no innocent person was arrested during the police operations.
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