The Hindu : `Friend-turned tormentor' nabbed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 02, 2003

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`Friend-turned tormentor' nabbed

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD April 1. A chat on the Net that turned sour and a friendship that changed hues to gain an obscene tinge. The dark side of the cyberworld caused much distress to a city-based girl and her travails came to an end when police tracked down and nabbed her `friend-turned-tormentor'.

Giving details at a press conference here on Tuesday, the Additional Director General of Police (CID), M.L.Kumawat, said a team of CID officials apprehended Paul Francis, an employee of Semi Conductors Complex, Mohali, Chandigarh, on charges of sending obscene, vulgar and threatening mail.

The accused was found to be flooding the email box of the complainant, daughter of Denzil Atkinson, Member of Parliament, and had even sent a mail threatening to get her kidnapped by the underworld kingpin, Dawood Ibrahim.

Mr. Kumawat said the girl and Paul struck friendship while chatting and later exchanged emails for about six months. Later, the girl began receiving emails that contained `dirty and unprintable material' from an unfamiliar mail-id.

She received about 11 emails of this nature and following her complaint a case was registered by the police under Sec. 67 of the Information Technology Act 2002.

The CID team which was entrusted with the investigation tracked the mails to Chandigarh and with the help of the ISP arrived at the doorsteps of Paul Francis. The team seized the personal computer of the accused who confessed to his crime.

Mr.Kumawat said Paul was booked under the IT Act 2000 under which the first offence of publishing obscene information in electronic form attracts conviction of five years and a fine of Rs.1 lakh. For the second conviction, the conviction is up to 10 years and a fine of upto Rs.2 lakh.

Paul Francis, a post-graduate, was presented before the presspersons but he refused to make any comment or take questions. Mr.Kumawat said that he sent `good emails as a chat friend on the one hand, and mailed obscene material on the other'.

Mr. Kumawat said eight cases had been registered under the IT Act in the last three months in the State. However, he admitted that so far no conviction had been made under the Cyber Acts in the country. He appealed Internet cafes to maintain logbooks on their premises and record the details of every person who availed himself of the browsing facility.

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