CEO s shaken by the Supreme Court verdict
After the unfortunate incident involving rape and murder of Pratibha Srikant Murthy on December 13, 2005, the police in Bangalore had filed an FIR accusing Som Mittal, managing director of Hewlett Packard Global Soft Ltd,f of violating statutory orders .the 2002 order of the state government prohibiting night shift for women.
Mr Mittal's plea for quashing of FIR had been earlier rejected by the Karnataka High Court and further by Supreme Court on 30th January. Mr Mittal who is also the President of Nasscom might have been reminded of the plight of Mr Avnish Bajaj CEO of Baazee.com who was arrested under ITA 2000 a few years back. At that time Nasscom had vehemently supported Mr Bajaj and lobbied with the Government so that ITA 2000 was amended.
Do we now see a demand for changing the provisions of Section 304 A of IPC? which says " 304A. Causing death by negligence : Whoever causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both."
It must be remembered that the decision only means that the proceedings can be launched against the CEO for negligence which lead to the death. Of Course, the ultimate decision of whether the person is guilty or not depends on whether the CEO was negligent. This depends on what action the CEO had taken at that time to prevent the type of happening that caused the death. In case the CEO had initiated all actions that a "Prudent person under similar circumstance would have done", then he should be absolved of the liability.
The case would however be a trend setting case which would perhaps define the concept of "Due Diligence and its limitations. This will also apply to Cyber Crime cases and hence is of interest to Cyber Law observers.
We however record our profound sympathies both with the family who lost the loved one as well as Mr Som Mittal for whom the incident has caused extreme misery.
Victims of Cyber Investment Crimes now have a helping
hand
In order to empower the victims of Cyber Crimes in the online investment area and to protect the online investors, Naavi has initiated an action plan through the formation of "Online Investor's Association of India". In a press conference to announce the launch, Naavi said that several follow up initiatives have been planned starting with representing to various agencies such as the Governments, Police and Adjudicators so that Cyber Investment Crimes are taken cognizance of as Cyber Crimes and relief provided to the investors through available legal remedies. (Copy of Press Release available here)
The Days of Information Insurance are Here
Naavi.org has been long advocating that Insurance industries are required to work out insurance products to protect information users against risks arising out of data loss and cyber crimes. Even in the context of the launching of the Online Investor's Association of India (www.oliai.in), Naavi highlighted the need for employee's cyber crimes being covered under some insurance programmes so that victims can stand protected. In the light of the above it is heartening to note that some insurance companies such as HDFC Insurance, Tata AIG, and ICICI Lombard have started offering such insurance as indicated by this ET report. The report
Is "Cyber Law" a Trade Mark?
In an amusing development it appears that a lawyer in USA has applied for a :Service Mark registration for the word "Cyber Law". This as much reveals the ignorance of the applicant on the legal aspects of Trade Mark as well as the greedy ness fueled by the IPR legislation. More information available here :Read More Comments here:
Online Investor's Association of India
Naavi.org has been receiving many Cyber Crime complaints in recent days involving online investments. First it was the Swisscash.net investors. Then it was the investors through online broking. Now several investors in Banks have been complaining of having been victimized by online frauds.
The common problem that most of these victims are facing is that the Cyber Crime Police Stations are avoiding booking of cases stating that they come under the jurisdiction of the normal police stations. Normal police stations are however reluctant to accept the complaints since they feel that there is a specially trained manpower in Cyber Crime Police stations to handle such cases and they should handle these cases. As a result the victims are not getting the required attention.
In a few instances where SEBI has been notified, the response has not been adequate to redress the grievance of the victims. Even the Stock Exchanges have been not fully cooperative when an individual investor takes on a powerful broker.
It is also found that in some of the online investment frauds, the victims are NRIs who cannot pursue their cases physically with the Police stations or Courts.
In order to enable these victims get better justice from the system, Naavi.org proposes to start an "Online Investor's Association of India" (OLIAI). This will be supported by CCC-RAC (Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center) and other services of Naavi.org. We have also sought the assistance of Dr Kiran Bedi's new initiative on Police reforms (Saferindia.com).
We welcome all like minded individuals to join Naavi and make this initiative a success. Naavi can be contacted at naavi@vsnl.com or +91 9343554943. More details and developments will be available on the website www.oliai.in which will soon be functional.
Plea bargaining used for a Section 67 case
In what can be considered a first in the history of Cyber Crimes in India, a case in Pune under Sec 67 of ITA 2000 is reported to have been settled under the "Plea-Bargaining" provision under Section 265 of CrPc. In this case the accused was a woman and had reportedly posted an obscene profile of her friend in Orkut with mobile number as she was angry with her friend being close to the man she loved. The accused has been let off without any imprisonment but a bond of good behaviour for 2 years and a payment of Rs 2.75 lakhs as compensation to the victim. Report in TOI
What is interesting in this case is that the decision has been at variance with ITA 2000 on two counts. According to Sec 67 of ITA 2000, the offender "Shall be punished" with imprisonment and the fine in the first instance is Rs 1 lakh. Civil compensation is not envisaged under ITA 2000 and is a subject matter of Section 43. Obviously, the CrPc amendment has been applied overriding the ITA 2000 provisions.
According to ITA 2000, its provisions will apply "notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force.".
Plea bargaining in India : Amendment to CrPc
Rs 20 Crore damages Claimed for Cyber Injustice
The software engineer of Bangalore who had to face the humiliation and torture of having to spend 50 days in Yerawada jail because of the mistake of Bharati Airtel and Pune Police has reportedly sued for damages to the extent of Rs 20crores. TOI report
This should make other ISPs and Cyber Crime Police stations to wake up and stop cooking up false cases on individuals.
Related Article: Error by Pune Police brings discredit to ITA 2000
Kiran Bedi's Initiative
Kiran Bedi the renowned Police officer who resigned recently from service has embarked on a career of public service. During here distinguished service Ms Bedi was not only considered an efficient police officer but also an honest public service minded officer. It is reported that Ms Bedi is taking up an initiative to bring about long awaited reforms in the Police system and to provide support to crime victims by acting as a bridge between the victims and the Police.
Naavi.org has been consistently working with a similar objective in the field of Cyber Crimes and welcome Ms Bedi's initiative. More info at www.saferindia.com (Please note that the web address is "saferindia" and not "safeindia" as has been reported in some press.)
This initiative includes a mechanism to record complaints which the Police are rejecting to register. We have come across umpteen number of cases in Cyber Crimes which the Police refuse to register and we hope Kiran Bedi's initiative will help Cyber Crime victims also to ensure that their grievances reach the relevant authorities.
Related article: DNA
More Cyber Crime Cells?..Will it help?
Maharashtra is reportedly setting up 9 more Cyber Crime cells in the state to handle cases under ITA 2000. While the attention paid by the Government on Cyber Crime prevention is welcome, it is necessary that the Cyber Crime Cells are structured appropriately so that they can handle any Cyber Crime even when the crime comes under sections of IPC. At present Cyber Crime Police stations such as the one in Bangalore restrict their activity to only cases which come under the sections of ITA 2000 only. If therefore a crime is committed using a computer but falls under say "Fraud" under IPC, the case will be considered as outside the jurisdiction of the Cyber Crime Police Station.
Since the expertise of the Cyber Crime police staion/cell would be required to assist investigation of all crimes involving computers, it is necessary to structure the Cyber Crime cells as "Investigative" and "Consultancy" cells which support normal police stations so that Cyber Crime cases can be booked by any police station.
It is also necessary to introduce the system of registration of Cyber Crimes through digitally signed online messages and there should be no delay or discretionary rejection in registering complaints.
Let's hope that Maharashtra Police will set in this new trend through the newly planned Cyber Crime cells. Related Article
One More ICICI Phishing Case reported
The Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center, ( www.ccc-rac.in ) has received another complaint from an NRI stating that more than Rs 6 lakhs has been fraudulently withdrawn from his account after the recent phishing attack on the customers of ICICI Bank. In this case the withdrawn amount has been transferred to another account in the Bank at Mumbai before being withdrawn.
Naavi.net invites affiliation from advocates in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai who are interested in handling litigation of this type to redress the grievances of the victims through appropriate legal measures.
Freelancer Frauds on Internet
Naavi.org has been suggesting a mechanism for accreditation of online job seekers and job offerors through the system of education commitment and registration. (Ref: E-Entrepreneurship Development Cell required). Absence of such a facility often helps unscrupulous persons taking Internet service buyers or sellers for a ride. A case of this nature has been reported at CCC-RAC (Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center) where in an US buyer of a net service through freelancers.com has been apparently cheated by some person in Kolkata. In the interest of developing trust in e-contracts and e-business we need our Police to take up the case and take suitable action against the suspect. I would like to know if any public spirited lawyer from Kolkata can assist CCC-RAC in following up the issue.
Nigerian Fraud Alert
One of the recent tactics used by Fraudsters of Nigerian fame is to send a copy of the cheque stated to have been kept ready for delivery to you if you make the payment of the advance fee. One such photo is here. Those who still believe in such fraudsters may also check the disclaimer of the Central Bank of Nigeria on their website.
Here is a sample of two e-mails received by one of the earlier targetted victims abroad which is also interesting. http://www.lindqvist.com/en/two-mails-from-the-central-bank-of-nigeria
Another eventful year 2007 is behind us. The digital society in India entered its 9th year of existence. The year marked some new beginnings and also opened up some concern areas. Let's try to recall some of the important developments in the field of Cyber Law in India and also in the history of Naavi.org... More
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