Himachal Pradesh wants to criminalise sending unwanted SMS

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh government proposes to make sending of an unwanted message on mobile phone a cognizable offence, Director General of Police D S Manhas said here today."There is a proposal to amend the police rule under the State Police Act to declare the sending of unwanted messages on the mobile phone a cognizable offence", he told reporters here.Manhas pointed out that unless the affected persons lodge the complaint against the message, police can notinvestigate the source of such messages.The DGP said the state government has sent to the Centre a Rs-70 crore plan for modernisation of police and to set up a lab for detection of cyber crime in a scientific manner for its approval.[caption id="attachment_170527" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Himachal Pradesh government proposes to make sending of an unwanted message on mobile phone a cognizable offence. AFP"][/caption]He said state police has introduced a citizen charter for time-bound disposal of 15 services including the issue of a copy of FIR and registration of the case.The police have also introduced Global Poisoning System (GPS) for monitoring effective police patrolling in the 98 police stations in the state, he said.Replying to a question, the DGP said police have taken effective steps to destroy narcotic crops grown in some districts of the state.PTI