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Context

• The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the investigation into a complaint filed by the Mayiladuthurai police in Tamil Nadu against five people, saying that they planned to form anti-national organisations and had ties to the terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

What is National Investigation Agency?

• The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act of 2008 established the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
• It is a central agency charged for investigating and prosecuting crimes:
• harming India's sovereignty, security, and integrity, as well as state security and amicable ties with other countries
• oppose nuclear and atomic power plants
• High-Quality Counterfeit Indian Currency Smuggling
• It carries out the United Nations', its agencies', and other international organisations' international treaties, accords, conventions, and resolutions.
• Its goal is also to fight terrorism in India.
• The Central Counter-Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency is in charge of it.

What are the challenges?

• Legal Requirements:
  • In the Indian judicial system, there is no provision that allows a domain expert to be a formal member of the evidence gathering team.
  • In the absence of such a provision, the prosecution risks being charged with evidence tampering if any agency uses a domain expert, as the Criminal Procedure Code only allows the police to gather evidence.
• Inducement of experts:
  • Domain expertise were also required for efficient use of the instruments used to investigate such crimes.
  • Investigative agencies had often made suggestions for inducting specialists and providing necessary staff training under the UPA era.
• Cross-border investigation:
  • Problems involving many countries demand more skilled and effective teams.
  • Such team formations necessitate a change in the legislation as well as the government's willingness to make the change.
• Police – the state subject:
  • The preservation of public order and police forces are listed as matters of state in Schedule VII of the Constitution.
  • Criminal law, on the other hand, is on the concurrent list, while national security is on the union list.

What is the way forward?

• Given that cross-border investigations are frequently required in cybercrime cases, a mechanism of cooperative investigations involving investigators from India and the nations involved should be implemented.
• The need of team inquiry should be emphasised.
• It is widely used in many nations. Crimes like the ransomware assault on a pipeline network in the United States, for example, were probed by teams of police officers and professionals in the disciplines.

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