Indian
Express: New Delhi: Thursday, 26 March 2015.
Before the
Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the IT Act on Tuesday, five of the 11
police districts in the capital had registered as many as 137 cases under the
section since January 2013. Of these, at least 23 cases were registered only
under Section 66A no other provisions of the IT Act or the IPC were applied.
Most cases related to Facebook comments, threatening text messages, mobile
phone calls and hacking of emails. A majority of these cases are still under
investigation.
The
information was revealed in reply to an RTI plea filed by The Indian Express
with the office of the Delhi Police Commissioner in October, 2014. The query
sought the details of cases registered in Delhi under Section 66A of the IT
Act. Though the application was forwarded to all 11 districts, only North
Delhi, Northwest Delhi, West Delhi, Southeast Delhi and South Delhi have
provided information so far.
According to
South district police, of the 42 cases registered in its area, Section 66A was
invoked in 10 cases. In one case, a complaint filed by an advocate was
converted into an FIR on the orders of a Saket court. The matter is under
investigation and the accused has not been not arrested, police said.
In another
case, a woman residing in Panchsheel Enclave complained that someone had
created her fake account. A third case was against an African who had allegedly
used a forged credit card to purchase goods from a Sarojini Nagar shop.
While two
cases under South Delhi are under trial, all others are pending investigation.
One was registered by an assistant to a senior advocate complaining that “he
noticed one email, which seeks to lure people into sending personal details and
appears to be offensive,” police told The Indian Express.
One case at
Vasant Kunj police station pertains to an argument between an advocate and a
member of District Consumer Disputes Reddressal Forum-II. The next day, the
advocate allegedly received “deliberate, offensive and hatred messages via
WhatsApp” and he filed a case against the forum member.
Of the 32
cases registered in Southeast Delhi, Sangam Vihar police station has two cases
under Section 66A. No other details were provided saying the “details of case
can hamper the process of investigation” and that “it would violate the privacy
of women”.
At Govindpuri
police station, there is a case about a woman who was “harassed by her
Canada-based employer” through phone and Facebook. Among these 32 cases, one is
under trial and others are under investigation. Majority of the cases related
to Facebook/email posts.
In Southeast
Delhi, a total of 18 cases were registered at Lajpat Nagar police station, but
no further details were provided.
Similarly, 23
FIRs were registered in North District under Section 66A, but no details were
given. In nine of these cases, only Section 66A was invoked.
In six of the
19 cases registered in West District’s police stations, only Section 66A was
invoked. All cases are pending probe, police said.
In a case
registered in Tilak Nagar police station, a Gurgaon MNC employee complained to
police that “one of her colleagues wrote abusive things on her social website
and threatened her”, police said. One of the cases in which only Section 66A
was invoked pertains to a complaint by the regional provident fund
commissioner. He complained that his “email account has been accessed from
various IP Addresses of Delhi, almost on a daily basis”.
Of the total
11 FIRs registered in Northwest Delhi, police did not provide any other
information saying it was exempted.
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