As many as 80,000 cyber crime related complaints have been registered with police in Kerala in the last one year, of which 50,000 relate to harassment of women through new hi-tech devices, Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said in Thiruvanathapuram on Monday.

He told reporters here that the number of cyber crimes are on the increase in the state with 80,000 complaints lodged in the last one year, 50,000 relating to women alone.

Most victms of these crimes were teenaged girls and women, he said, adding there was a nefarious attempt to trap young girls to indulge in wrongdoing. The increase in number of mobile phones had also led to more number of cyber crimes, he said, adding Kerala now has three lakh mobile phones Crimes were also reported by misusing social networking system and internet, he said. The minister said the government with a view to strength the computer security using best practice, Kerala Police would hold an International Information Security Conference here on August 3 and 4, he said.

'By fostering the collabroation of the public and private sectors, our goal is to conceive new counter measures against cyber security threats and crimes aginst women', he said. On reported presence of Maoist in Kerala forests, he said certain things cannot be disclosed due to security reasons.

Necessary steps would be taken by police to prevent activities of such groups, he said. Justifying the ban on the August 15 'freedom parade' of Popular Front of India, he pointed out that the ban had been in force for the past three years and UDF government had only followed the stand taken by the previous LDF government.

He said Independence Day celebrations was an official celebration conducted by all state governments. 'Let us celebrate the freedom together', he said, adding the PFI's parade has a sectarian colour to it.