IRDA files Sec 66A complaint against an activist

It is reported that a Cyber Crime complaint has been filed in Hyderabad by IRDA against persons who highlighted corruption and irregularities in IRDA.

In February 2013 and earlier, the IRDA officer’s association had reportedly brought to the notice of the Chairman various irregularities. Since no action was taken by the Chairman, the Vice President of the Association had shared the details with CEOs of insurance companies.

Now in July 2013, an FIR has been filed because IRDA received by IRDA where the irregularities committed by one of the executives had been reported. It appears that the complaint letter has been considered as  an offensive material warranting the invocation of Section 66A of ITA 2008.

Related Article in indiartinews.com

While it is possible that the email might have caused “annoyance” to a person , it is unclear how Sec 66A will be fitted in the case since E Mail was received by IRDA and some body else is alleging having felt “annoyed”. If the sender of the email believed it to be true, then it is difficult to invoke section 66A (b). If he knew it to be false then the message should be considered as “Grossly offensive” or “Menacing”. The sender of the message appears to be a person other than the accused and we can presume that the accused believed that the allegation was true. Hence the police have to first find out if the allegation was true or false and then whether the accused knew it to be false and that the accused himself had sent the message. If any of these conditions fail, it may be difficult to sustain the FIR.

Naavi

About Vijayashankar Na

Naavi is a veteran Cyber Law specialist in India and is presently working from Bangalore as an Information Assurance Consultant. Pioneered concepts such as ITA 2008 compliance, Naavi is also the founder of Cyber Law College, a virtual Cyber Law Education institution. He now has been focusing on the projects such as Secure Digital India and Cyber Insurance
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