BHUBANESWAR: A Puri court on Friday sentenced RTI activist Jayanta Kumar Das to six years of imprisonment for creating fake online mail ID as well as profile and posting them on a pornographic website.The SDJM Court has also directed Das to pay `9,000 as fine. He was found guilty under Sections 292/465/469/500 of the IPC and Sections 66C/67/67A of Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 making it the first cyber pornographic crime conviction case in the State.
The case was originally registered in Baselisahi police station of Puri basing on a complaint filed by journalist Biswajit Patnaik. He had alleged that a fake profile was created in his wife’s name in a pornographic website where derogatory and obscene comments were posted. Similarly, Patnaik’s mobile phone number was also uploaded which led to receipt of number of unsolicited calls and objectionable requests. Patnaik had alleged that Das was behind such acts because he had reported the RTI activist’s activities in newspapers.
The Crime Branch had taken over the case in August 2012 and investigation showed that fake e-mail account in the name of complainant and a fake profile in Patnaik’s wife’s name were created by Das. The probe also revealed that Das was named in at least six criminal cases and chargesheets were also submitted by police in such cases. He was arrested and remanded in custody for about a month.
The CB also submitted chargesheet against him in December 2012. During the trial, prosecution produced 12 witnesses including scientist of Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Kolkata and as many as 55 documents as exhibits.The court considered the evidence produced for charges of forgery, identity theft and cyber pornography and convicted Das.
Other cases
The probe also revealed that Jayanta Kumar Das was named in at least six criminal cases
He was arrested and remanded in custody for about a month
The CB also submitted chargesheet against him in December 2012