India needs strong law to check cyber crime: Official

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) India needs a strict law to check criminal activities in the cyber world, a senior union law ministry official said here Thursday.

"With the tendency of misuse of technology rising, there is a need for a strict statuary provision to regulate the criminal activities in the cyber world," said P.K. Malhotra, secretary in the law and justice ministry's legal affairs department.

He was speaking at the Assocham Global Conference on Law & Technology - "Issues & Challenges".

Malhotra said media too needs to be "regulated" given its tendency to encroach upon personal lives of certain individuals.

"So far as media law is concerned, the big debate is going on. Yes, there is a need for a self regulation or a law should be made by parliament," he said.

He further said as far as security laws are concerned, although the government has given certain power to market regulator, but foreign companies are not cooperating.

"Foreign companies and E-commerce players have been avoiding compliance with the Indian laws for long by hiding behind the conflict of laws in cyber space," Malhotra said.

Besides, he said all subsidiary/joint ventures companies in India, especially those dealing in information technology and online environment, must mandatorily establish a server in India.