New Delhi: 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.
