State of Tamil Nadu v Suhas Katti

Decided On

5^TH November, 2004

Citation

CC. No. 4680 of 2004

Petitioner

State of Tamil Nadu

Respondent

Suhas Katti

Bench

Anulrj (CCM), Egmore.

Relevant Law

Section 469, and 509 of IPC, and 67 of the IT Act 2000.

Facts

The accused was a family friend of the complainant. The accused posted annoying, defamatory, and obscene messages about the complainant. The victim was a divorcee woman on social media platforms, and messenger apps. Yahoo messenger app was used by the accused to post such rumours about the women. The main problem behind all of this is that the accused in interested in the women. He also wanted to marry her, but she got married with another man. After her divorce, the accused again started forcing her to marry him, but she rejected him again. After being rejected twice, he started posting defamatory messages about her and also shared her personal mobile number on the social media.

After all this, mails were also forwarded to the women for giving her the information about the accused. The accused has opened a false e-mail account on the name of the victim. Because of all this, the victim received many disrespectful and obscene calls. After suffering such defamation by the acts of the accused, the women filed a complaint against the accused. Based on the complaint registered by the women, the accused was arrested by the police after some days. A charge sheet was filed on 24^th March, 2004 under Section 67 of the IT Act 2000, and Section 469 of the IPC.

Issues

Was the accused liable for the charges under section 509, and 469 of Indian Penal Code, 1860, and section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000?

Judgment

On 5^th November 2004, judgement was delivered by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate which states that, “under Section 509, and 469 of the IPC, and section 67 of the IT Act the accused was found guilty for all the offenses done by him, and for which he must be sentenced and convicted to undergo rigorous imprisonment of 2 years, and also a fine of Rs. 500/- under section 509, and 469 of the IPC accused is sentenced for 1 year of simple imprisonment with fine of Rs. 500. ”

And under Section 67 of the IT Act, 2000 the accused has to undergo a fine of Rs. 4000 with rigorous imprisonment of 2 years.

Conclusion

In the 21^st generation era, every domain of one’s life whirl around cyberspace, which gives birth to both sides, i.e. the advantages that the internet provides and also the crimes which occur. Now it seems that it has become a major task to handle these internet crimes. The internet had started to appear recently in the Indian context and the laws for it were hardly rigorous since not much harm was caused or reported till then. However, the IT act and its implementation, in this case, made a historic impression and helped both the courts and the public as it sets a benchmark for the courts and influence people and gave them strength to lodge cases against the wrongs of harassment and defamation, etc. on the internet. This case became the first case where conviction happened under section 67 of the Information Technology Act 2000 in India.

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