Amit Garg v. State of Uttarakhand
In the High Court of Uttarakhand
B.A. 153/2014
Before Justice U C Dhyani
Decided on March 06, 2014

Relevancy of the case: Bail application in a case involving blackmailing and transmission of sexually explicit content

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 67A)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 384, 389, 504, 120B)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The complainant lodged a First Information Report alleging that he was receiving threatening calls for ransom and for the production of confidential official documents. 
• They stated that Channel One was telecasting some false and baseless news items against him.
• The applicant was a part-time reporter in Channel One and according to the complainant, he was responsible for telecasting the false news item against him. 

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates 

• The petitioner’s counsel submitted that none of the telephone numbers cited in the FIR belonged to the applicant and that the applicant never contacted the complainant.
• He further argued that a sting operation is not an offence and that no offence punishable under Section 384 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 is made out against the applicant.
• There was no delivery of money or any official document; the offence punishable under Section 389 is a bailable offence and the reporter had no concern with the telecast of the news in question. Further, there was no evidence of the applicant’s participation in extortion.

Opinion of the Bench

• The Court was in agreement with the submission of the applicant’s counsel regarding the ingredients that constitute the offence of extortion. However, the present material does not clarify if the applicant did not transmit or cause to transmit sexually explicit act.  Therefore, the court did not think it proper to grant bail to the applicant at this stage of the trial.

Final Decision

• The bail application was rejected.

This case summary has been prepared by Ria Verma, an undergraduate student at Symbiosis Law School, Noida, during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2021.