In the recent wake of terrorism, the Indian home ministry is all set to make the purchasing of SIM cards a Herculean task. If they do have their way, then buying a SIM card may equal the procedures needed to open a bank account. A person who wishes to buy a SIM card will have to provide the names of two existing phone customers as guarantors before he gets a connection. Other requirements like identity and residential address proof will also be needed.
At a meeting convened by the home ministry on 8th Aug 2008, several issues including the need to curb terrorism were discussed with chief secretaries and police chiefs of states. Terrorists these days are using mobile phones to launch attacks on the country by using them to trigger blasts and also communicate with each other. In its bid to stop these activities, this is among the several measures suggested by the home ministry to the department of telecommunications (DoT).
Home secretary Madhukar Gupta, remarked after the meeting, “We wanted to have a mechanism where a common person can get a SIM card without any hassles and other security concerns are also met. The Centre is looking for an enforcement agency which will have power to investigate and ability to gather intelligence.”
When questioned on the discussions of forming a federal agency, he replied, “We did have a discussion on federal agency. There are two things – federal crime and federal agency. There is no relevance of federal crime in India. This is a concept in the US where every state has its own definition of every crime. In India, every penal law is a federal law… so there is no question of federal crime.”
Gupta further added, “So institutionally, there will be an in built mechanism for consultations with the state through the representation of the state through these chief secretaries and the DGPs. Investigation of any terrorism case is not possible though a single agency. So what we are really looking at is – the cases where there are inter-state and international linkages, arms and drugs smuggling, it is difficult for any state agency to get to the bottom of the case.”
The use of mobile phones by terrorists has increased rampantly. They enable them to trigger IEDs which helped them to attack Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad in May last year. Along with this, they also help them pass messages to their handlers across the border. Investigations in the Mecca blasts hit a dead end when the CBI found that fake addresses were used by the perpetrators to obtain SIM cards. In addition, they easily procured the connection by using photographs of a Noida based yoga teacher.
This has compelled the home ministry to set guidelines that make it mandatory for SIM card vendors to take instant photographs of new customers using web cameras. Along with a reference number, these photographs should then be forwarded to the service provider.
These suggestions have put forth by the home ministry after the Mecca Masjid blast investigation. Still in the process of consultations, the issue has not yet been resolved with the DoT.