In the first of its kind verdict related to cyber crimes in the state, Shashwat Kumar, son of Dr. Shiva Jatan Thakur has been held guilty of intending to insult the modesty of a woman and sending offensive messages though communication services.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Dimapur, Chinemchiba Monday passed an order stating that the accused Shashwat Kumar was found guilty under sec. 509 IPC and sec. 66A and 66E of the IT Act and sentenced him to two months and 25 days simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 50,000/- (Fifty Thousand).
The CJM’s order also stated that the accused voluntarily pleaded guilty by submitting that he had posted the complainant’s private photographs and other derogatory messages by opening a fake Facebook profile and sent the same to friends and relatives of the complainant.
However, since the accused has already served the sentence, the magistrate waived off the period of the sentence under section 428 Cr. P.C. If Shashwat failed to pay the fine, he would have to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one year.
It may be mentioned that on March 16, 2011, a Naga girl lodged a complaint at East Police station Dimapur against the accused for posting her “obscene pictures” at the social networking site Facebook. The accused was arrested from NSCBI Kolkata airport on March 25 by Dimapur police personnel led by OC East Police station Atu Zumvu and ASI M C Rutsa.
Talking to Nagaland Post, public prosecutor Dimapur for the state/complainant, Imtiakum said that since the case was first of its kind for the state, they had “suffered” and underwent lots of “pain” to solve the case.
On delay of the verdict, Imtiakum stated that the case could have been disposed off within few months if it was not referred to the principal bench of Gauhati High Court thrice.
Imtiakum said that the accused was rejected bail by the CJM. However, the accused filed for bail at Gauhati High Court after being imprisoned for two months and 25 days and he was granted bail.
Asserting that the Gauhati High Court “justified and upholded” the proceedings of the Dimapur CJM, Imtiakum said that when the accused challenged the jurisdiction of CJM and the investigating officer of the case inspector Atu Zumvu stating that both were “incompetent” to investigate the case under IT Act, the high court rejected the appeal.