Dr. Devender Singh v. Navdeep Singh & Anr.
(2019) 5 RCR (Cri) 592
In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana
CRM-M 20865/2019 (O&M)
Before Justice A.S. Sangwan
Decided on February 25, 2019

Relevancy of the Case: Seeking directions for the trial court to frame charges under Section 66D in place of Section 66A

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66D, 66A, 81)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 469, 419, 468, 500, 501)
• The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 216, 311)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The petitioner filed a complaint alleging the creation of a fake email account in his name.
• The police investigated and traced the IP address used for the email account to the respondent’s wife and an individual named Satish Kumar.
• The police arrested the respondent and seized the laptop and modem.
• The petitioner has approached the High Court to give directions to the trial court to frame charges under Section 66D.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel submitted that two emails sent exhibited as statement of the petitioner and were not only defamatory but also constituted the offence of impersonation. Further, the Supreme Court struck down Section 66A in the case of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015). However, the court framed charges against the respondent on January 16, 2012. Further, Section 81 was in effect before the offence mentioned in the current FIR occurred. Hence, the court should also charge the respondents under Section 66D.

Opinion of the Bench

• Section 81 has an overriding effect, and the trial court has failed to look into Section 66D.
• The trial court’s finding that no evidence had surfaced was false. The trial court should frame a charge under Section 66D instead of Section 66A.
• Further, nothing decided in this appeal shall have a bearing on the case’s merits.

Final Decision

• The court allowed the petition.

Sreekutty R, an undergraduate student at National Law University Odisha, prepared this case summary during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in May/June 2023.