How to file Cyber-Stalking complaint in India? By: Buelah Pranathi Gollapudi

July 17,2019:

The Author, Buelah Pranathi Gollapudi is a student of 1^st Year, B.A LLB. NALSAR University Of Law, Hyderabad, Telangana. She is currently interning with LatestLaws.com.

What is cyber stalking?

Whoever monitors the use by a person of the internet, email or any other form of electronic communication that results in a fear of violence, or interferes with the mental peace of such person, commits the offence of stalking”.

Cyber stalking in one of the most important cyber crimes. Stalking is mostly happened against the women. Cyber stalking is nothing but online harassment or threatening the victim for sexual purposes or misuses them. Why it is happened against the women? Why they are victimized? Whether they don't have any right or liberty? Then what about the constitutional rights?

There is no universal accepted definition of cyber stalking. The word stalking means ‘pursue stealthily' which refers that "harass obviously". Cyber stalking refers computer oriented harassment.

The term interchangeably used as online harassment or online abuse. A perpetrator or cyber stalker does not give direct physical threat to the victim but giving online threat or giving verbal intimidation. It is a continuous function in the cyber space.

Cyber stalking vs. offline stalking

Kinds of Cyber Stalking: There are three kinds of cyber stalking. 1. E-mail stalking 2. Internet stalking 3. Computer stalking

E-mail stalking: E-mail stalking is one of the most common forms of stalking in the physical world involve telephoning, sending mail, and actual surveillance, cyber stalking which can take many forms .Unsolicited e-mail is one of the most common forms of harassment, including hate, obscene, or threatening mail. Other forms of harassment include sending the victim viruses or high volume of electronic junk mail. It is important to note here that sending viruses or telemarketing solicitations alone do not constitute stalking. However, if these communications are repetitively sent in a manner which is designed to intimidate (that is, similar to the manner in which stalkers in the physical world send subscriptions to pornographic magazines), then they may constitute concerning behaviors which can be categorized as stalking.

Internet Stalking: Here in this case stalkers can comprehensively use the Internet in order to slander and endanger their victims. In such cases, the cyber stalking takes on a public, rather than a private dimension. What is particularly disturbing about this form of cyber stalking is that it appears to be the most likely to spill over into physical space. Generally, cyber stalking is accompanied by traditional stalking behaviors such as threatening phone calls, vandalism of property, threatening mail, and physical attacks. There are important differences between the situation of someone who is regularly within shooting range of her/his stalker and someone who is being stalked from two thousand miles away. While emotional distress is acknowledged in most criminal sanctions, it is not considered as serious as actual physical threat. Thus, the links between stalking, domestic violence, and feticide have been empirically demonstrated in real life, much cyber stalking remains at the level of inducing emotional distress, fear, and apprehension. However, this is not to say that causing apprehension and fear should not be criminally sanctioned.

Computer Stalking: The third mode of cyber stalking is computer stalking which exploits the Workings of the Internet and the Windows operating system in order to assume control over the Computer of the targeted victim. It is probably not widely recognized that an individual Windows based computer connected to the Internet can be identified and connected to another computer through to the Internet. This connection is not the link via a third party characterizing typical Internet interactions, rather it is a computer-to-computer connection allowing the Inter lopper to exercise control over the computer of the target. A cyber stalker mostly communicates directly with their target as soon as the target computer connects in any way to the Internet. The stalker can assume control of the victim's computer and the only defensive option for the victim is to disconnect and relinquish their current Internet address.

The cyber stalking cases are dealt in India by the:-

1. Information technology act 2000.
2. The criminal law (Amendment) act 2013.
3. Information technology act 2000.

If any person is publishing or sending any salacious material in the form of electronic media is to be charged under section 67 of the Act. This dose not involves the determination of the extent of liability of ISP (internet service providers) and their directors.

For the preclusion of cyber stalking the protection of the data is very important, which gets leaked easily by the hackers. According to the amended IT act, section 43 A is added for the inclusion of a “Body corporate”, the allowing of the compensation in the case of a firm or a company which causes any wrongful losses or gain to any person by the way of transmitting any sensitive information and the maintenance of such type of security, then such body corporate shall be liable to pay damages by way of compensation.

2. The criminal law (Amendment) act, 2013.

The act includes “Stalking” as an offence under   section of the IPC(Indian penal code). This act states that, “Any man” who-

1. contacts and follows a woman or attempts to contacts such woman to proselytize personal communication repeatedly despite of being clear indication of disinterest by such woman or;
2. Observe the use of a woman over the internet, instant messages, e-mail or any other form of electronic communication is the offence of stalking”. Racism is also a factor in cyber stalking.

The following section shall tell you how to file a cyber crime complaint in India in few simple steps.

1. The very first step to file a cyber crime complaint is to register a written complaint with the cyber crime cell of the city are currently in. According to the IT Act, a cyber crime comes under the purview of global jurisdiction. This means that a cyber crime complaint can be registered with any of the cyber cells in India, irrespective of the place where it was originally committed. At present, most cities in India have a dedicated cyber crime cell. The last section of this article shall provide you with the list of cyber cells in India.
2. When filing the cyber crime complaint, you need to provide your name, contact details, and address for mailing. You need to address the written complaint to the Head of the Cyber Crime Cell of the city where you are filing the cyber crime complaint.
3. In case you are a victim of online harassment, a legal counsel can be approached to assist you with reporting it to the police station. Additionally, you may be asked to provide certain documents with the complaint. This would, however, depend on the nature of the crime.
4. Register a Cyber Crime FIR: If you do not have access to any of the cyber cells in India, you can file a First Information Report (FIR) at the local police station. In case your complaint is not accepted there, you can approach the Commissioner or the city’s Judicial Magistrate.
5. Certain cyber crime offenses come under the Indian Penal Code. You can register a cyber crime FIR at the nearest local police station to report them. It is mandatory under Section 154, Code of Criminal Procedure, for every police officer to record the information/complaint of an offense, irrespective of the jurisdiction in which the crime was committed.
6. Most of the cyber crimes that are covered under the Indian Penal Code are classified as cognizable offenses. A cognizable offense is the one in which a warrant is not required for an arrest or investigation. In this case, a police officer is bound to record a Zero FIR from the complainant. He must then forward it to the police station under the jurisdiction of the place where the offense was committed.
7. Zero FIR offers some solace to victims of cases that require immediate attention/investigation as it avoids wasting time in enlisting the offense on police records.