B. C. Arun S/o S. C. Basavaraja v State of Karnataka, by Pulikeshi Nagar Police

Karnataka High Court

 10 August 2012

Criminal Petition No. 3743/2012

The Order of the Court was as follows :

1. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for the respondent- State. The petitioner seeks quashing of the proceedings in C.C.No. 1136/2011 on the file of the I Addl. C.M.M., Mayo Hall, Bangalore, on the ground that no offence as alleged is made out against the petitioner.

2. The case against the petitioner as per the charge sheer is in respect of Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (the IT Act’ for short) and the allegation is that, the petitioner used to send messages from mobile Nos. 8095264641 and 9739314694 to mobile No. 9945498111 of complainant Shanthi and aggrieved by the messages sent and also having undergone mental torture on account of the said messages, the complaint lodged by the complainant led to the charge sheet being filed after investigation.

3. Though the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that no case is made out against the petitioner, in view of the further statement of C.W.1 Shanthi, the submission of the learned Government Pleader is that, the material collected by the investigating agency revealed that from, this petitioner only sim cards were seized in respect of the aforesaid mobile numbers. Section 66(A) of the I.T. Act prescribes punishment for sending offensive messages through communication services which also includes electronic mail as well as by means of computer, etc.

4. In the light of the aforesaid reasons, this court cannot interfere at this stage and the petitioner to take all the grounds urged in the trial court and seek for discharge

5. The petition is dismissed.