SidChiBharg (Software) 22 May 2012

Jurisdiction regarding cyber crime case (e-mail hacking)

Hi Friends,
          I had filed an online complaint regarding cyber crime (email hacking) with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Cyber Crime Cell through their website. My gmail and yahoo email ids were hacked. I suspected it to be the handy work of my estranged wife who was living separately from me for the past 2 months with her parents in her paternal home at Jaipur, Rajasthan. CBI Cyber Crime Cell transferred the case to - Cyber Crime Cell, EOW, Delhi Police, 22/23 Udyog Sadan, Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi. They further transferred the case to Cyber Crime Cell, EOW, PTS Malviya Nagar, New Delhi. The Cyber Crime Cell team was finally successful in their investigations and was able to crack the case. My statements were coroborated and in the investigation report it came out that the IP addreess was assigned to my estranged wife.
    After successfully completing their investigations and cracking the case the Cyber Crime Cell team transferred the case to the police station under which our area comes for taking further action and taking the case to its logical conclusion. The SHO in consultations with the concerned I.O. concluded that since the crime (email hacking) had been committed from Jaipur so it doesn’t lie within the jurisdiction of Delhi and so transferred the investigation report to the S.S.P. Jaipur with their findings. All these several months I tried to meet and convince senior officers of the Delhi police but in vain. They were not ready to listen and just stated that as the crime (email hacking) had been committed from Jaipur the FIR would be registered in Jaipur ONLY.
           After failing to convince the Delhi Police to register the F.I.R. in New Delhi, I decided to file a private complaint u/s 156(3) in district courts, New Delhi. Two hearings have gone by. In the first hearing I was just given a next date as the concerned magistrate hadn't come and in the second hearing I had an argument with the magistrate. I began by telling him that this is a case of cyber crime and my gmail and yahoo email ids were hacked by the accused. I further told him that the case has already been investigated by the cyber crime cell and it has been proved that the crime had been committed by the accused. I apprised him that the Delhi Police is not registering the FIR since as per them the jurisdiction of Delhi is not applicable as the crime (hacking) had happened from Jaipur. I told the magistrate that I am living here in Delhi and I discovered that my email Id had been hacked in Delhi so I would report the crime in Delhi and the police ought to register an FIR here. I also argued with the magistrate that Sir "If someone had hacked my email id from America (US) then would I go to US to file an FIR", the magistrate said that this is not the way to argue, the city is here in India itself you can go there. Meanwhile he asked me to read juridiction w.r.t CrPC and find out the points of jurisdiction and gave the next date. The magistrate asked me to prove how jurisdiction of Delhi is applicable and then he'll order the Delhi police to register the F.I.R. and gave me next date. He asked me to read CrPC sections for jurisdiction.

Friends, please do help me in arguing with the magistrate regarding juridiction. Please do help me with case studies which I can argue in front of the magistrate. My case is to come up for hearing this weekend. Waiting for guidance from experts in cyber law. Please do let me know how should I argue with the magistrate. I am appearing as party in person in my case.

Thanks and Regards,
Sid.

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6 Replies

Dr Tungar (API) 23 May 2012

Hi ,Plz see the sec.179 of CrPC.

When an act is an offence, due to anything, which has been done, and of a consequence, which has ensued, the offence may be inquired into or tried by a court within whose local jurisdiction such thing has been done or such consequence has ensued.

SidChiBharg (Software) 23 May 2012

Hi Dr. Tungar,
                        Thanks a lot for your reply. I already know about CrPC 179 and I am going to raise this with the magistrate also. I would tell him that although the email had been hacked (offence) in Jaipur but the consequence (I wasn't able to access my email) had ensued in New Delhi so New Delhi courts has juridiction to try the case.
                       But again I find that this would be a suggestion to the magistrate to conduct a trial in New Delhi. He (magistrate) could say that it (CrPC 179) says : "the offence may be inquired into OR tried by a court within whose local jurisdiction such thing has been done or such consequence has ensued", so the magistrate could argue that since it is OR so "the offence is already been enquired into or tried by a court within whose local jurisidction such thing has been done" i.e. Jaipur AND he could ask why it should be tried in New Delhi?
                       Please do you have any case studies where Delhi courts have assumed juridiction where the cyber crime has occurred elsewhere. Please do share this with me so that I can share it with the magistrate in my case.

Thanks and Regards,
Sid.

Dr Tungar (API) 25 May 2012

A) You may ask why should not be tried in delhi ? as in 179 crpc cearly mentioned " or tried by a court where such consequences has ensued"

B) You may refer https://airwebworld.com/articles/index.php?article=1022

The Supreme Court in State of Madhya Pradesh v. Suresh Kaushal,while discussing the importance of this Section inferred that Section 179 of Code provides that where there are two courts having jurisdiction, the trial is permitted to take place in any one of those two courts. One is the court within whose local jurisdiction the act has been done and the other is the court within whose local jurisdiction the consequence has ensued. The application of this principle in cyberspace has to be espoused owing to the peculiarity of the worldwide web, which undoubtedly permits initiation of the crime from any part of the world with its consequences in any other part of the world without any territorial boundaries.

In a leading case of cyber crime, SMC Pneumatics (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Jogesh Kwatra, India’s first case of cyber defamation, High Court of Delhi assumed jurisdiction over a matter where a corporates’ reputation was being defamed through e-mails, and passed an important ex-parte injunction. The concept of consequence and cause of action extends jurisdiction but a conflicting situation arises where there is no defined regulation at one of the places. For example, the Act does not provide any provision to catch the internet p*rnography on foreign websites but only for sites in India.

C) At the time of registration of FIR (speacilly in cyber crime ) nobody can claim that the offence has been done at specific place.It is the part of an investigation.In the cyber crime investigation it's reveal (sometimes!) the place of offence. In your case your hacked email Id might has been accsessed by USB Modem while traveling or at different locations.

Randhir Kumar (Advocate-On-Record High Court Patna ) 03 August 2012

Filing a complaint/ Writing an application letter.

What details will I be asked to include in my complaint?

You may need to provide the following possible information, along with an application letter addressing the head of cyber crime i

nvestigation cell when filing a complaint:

Your name,
Your mailing address,
Your telephone number,
Specific details on how the offence was committed, along with the names and addresses of suspects and any other relevant information necessary.
What contents should be there in the application letter?

Contents vary with respect to the type of fraud or crime faced by you.

Cyber Stalking:
It is the most common kind of cyber crime happening in India and the victim’s report could contain the following information:

Email/IM communications received
Phone numbers of the obscene callers, if any
Website address which contains the profile
Screenshot or the webpage (to be saved and submitted in hard copy)
Other important necessary information could be provided after consulting law enforcement agency.
Note:
Victims of Cyber Stalking often request webmaster to delete their Profile. Deleting the profile means the evidence is lost.

Password Hacking:

When did you access your email account last?
From where and which computer did you browse it?
All information about email account e.g. date of birth entered, pin code entered and security question and the last password?
What type of documents should be included in my application which can be considered as proof or evidence in regard to my complaint?

Every possible information which can be provided by you with proper documents can be included in the application letter and be considered as proof or evidence.
Proof or Evidence may include the following:

E-mail printouts,
Chat-room or newsgroup text or screenshots if taken by you,
Email printouts should contain full email header information,
Transaction acknowledgements or receipts,
Credit card records, transaction details and receipts,
Envelopes or letters received via post courier,
FAX copies,
Pamphlets or brochures (if you have received),
Phone bills,
Printed or preferably electronic copies of web pages
Keep the necessary information in a safe location; you will be required to provide them for investigation as and when required.
Note: Proof or documents which will be part of the application are not restricted to the above list, additional information may be required depending on the nature of crime.

What should I do if I believe my complaint is time sensitive?

You should contact your local police station directly if you believe your matter is time sensitive.

You can get the crime related information on other below mentioned web sites links:-
Mumbai Police: www.mumbaipolice.org
Pune Police: www.punepolice.com
Thane Police: www.thanepolice.org
Indian Computer Emergency Response Team: www.cert-in.org.in
If you think you or anyone you know are in immediate danger, please contact your local police station or main control room (Phone no. 100) immediately! Online reporting should NEVER be used in the event of an emergency requiring immediate attention.

(Disclaimer: Contents of this page have been provided for general information and should not be construed to be legal advice. This web site is not a complete or authoritative source of legal information.
Information on this site therefore should not be considered legal advice or otherwise relied upon. If you have any specific questions please contact a lawyer or otherwise seek independent professional advice before acting on anything contained herein. We do not take any responsibility for reliance on errors or omissions in the content contained on our web site.)

Law Office

High Court,Patna

Randhir Kumar

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Vicky Shah (Founder) 16 August 2013

Contents Mentioned by Randhir Kumar are from the portal www.indiacyberlab.in. Jurisdiction in Cyber Cases depends on the victim from wehre he observes or gets enlightened about the incident.

mahendra limaye (Cyber Legal Consultant) 18 August 2013

Dear friend, Its typical matter of ignorance of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT by one and all. This law provides for GLOBAL JURISDICTION under section 75 and there should not be absolutely any issues related to jurisdiction regarding I T Matters. As our judiciary as well as police machinery well versed with CrPC they will not think above the same. You can quote section 75 of I T Act for contending jurisdiction issue.