CYBER-CONVICTION

CYBER-CONVICTION

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May 03, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- Conviction in only four cases of cyber crimes so far : Cyber crimes may be spiralling but the country is grappling with poor conviction rates in courts as only four people have been held guilty for internet-related crimes so far.
The four convictions of cyber crime include an incident in 2003 when Sony India Private Limited owner of www.Sony-sambandh.Com filed complaint against a NOIDA based call centre worker for online cheating.

One Arif Azim gained access of credit card details of an American national and bought Television and cordless headphone on the website using the data. "Azim was convicted by the court under various IPC sections of fraud. However, the court released him on probation for one year after it felt that that he was a young boy of 24 years and a first time convict," Duggal, who was the counsel in the case, said.

The National Crime Record Bureau data states that between 2004-07, 606 cases of cyber crime were registered under the IPC in which 560 accused were arrested. A total of 1,231 cases of cyber crime were also registered under the IT Act and 1,546 arrests were made into those cases.

The Information Technology Act came into existence in 2000 in the country but has hardly helped in increasing the conviction rates, Duggal said. "Till date a couple of 100 cases have been filed. Investigations are being done in many and in others, due to lack of evidence, no conclusion could be drawn," he said.

First conviction under the Act took place four years after its inception in which one person was posting obscene messages to a woman on internet chat. "The accused was found guilty of offences under Section 469, 509 IPC and 67 of the IT Act 2000 and was asked to pay a fine and undergo five years imprisonment," he said.

Cases of cyber crime range from tampering with computer documents, to pornography and hacking. In a recent case, a father and son were convicted under the IT Act in Kerala. "A Pentecostal church priest and his son were imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 and one year rigorous imprisonment after they were found guilty of morphing, web-hosting and e-mailing nude pictures of one family," Duggal said. Source