Jurisdiction of Courts under The IT Act,2000 : Case Law

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Jurisdiction of Courts in India under The IT Act,2000

A Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court had occasion to deal with the statutory framework pertaining to data breaches in a proceeding for quashing of FIR. In Amit Kumar Jaduan v State of UP and others [MANU/UP/3289/2018] the court examined Sections 43, 47 and 66 of the Act. Some of the important observations of the court are summarised hereunder:

  • The act of default must have been committed without the permission of the person who is owner or a person-in-charge of the computer, computer system or computer network.

  • The act of the defendant must have caused some damage or loss to the person so affected.

  • The difference between Section 43 and 66 is that the pre-requisite of the latter is the existence of mens rea, while under Section 43 of the Act, it is whether the Act committed is without the permission of the owner or person who is in charge of the computer, computer network, or computer system

  • Simultaneous actions can be maintained under Section 43 (civil) and Section 66 (criminal) as there is no provision which bars the same.

  • While the jurisdiction of civil courts is barred for offences related to Section 43 and there is a special court in the form of an adjudicating authority under the Act to try offences under Chapter IX of the Act, there is no special court created for offences prescribed under chapter XI which consists of Sections 65 to 74 related to offences. Regular criminal courts (JMFC in non metropolitan region and MM Courts in metropolitan cities) will have the jurisdiction depending on their power to adjudicate depending upon the quantum of punishment prescribed in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

    Civil Proceedings instituted will go before an adjudicating officer (Section 46) He is the Principal IT Secratary of the State. Appeals from a decision of the adjudicating officer will go to the TDSAT (Section 57) at Delhi. Appeals from the decision of the TDSAT will go to the High Court (Section 62).

    To conclude lemme sum it up by an real life case example Which I handled.

    SVC Bank Limited a 2nd largest and oldest cooperative bank came to me with a Data Theft Case by a ex employee in connivance with some current employees.

    Criminal & Civil action which I took in Person : I & my team drafted and Liason with police to file an FIR (criminal) under S43(a),S43(b) read with S(66) of The IT Act,2000 and S408, S109 with S34 of the IPC . Then filed a civil suit for damages and compensation under S43(a) & S43(b) along with Injunction application to stop further spread of stolen data in the original side of Bombay High Court .( it was not filed with adjudication officer as the loss was more than ₹ 5 crores i.e. around 20 Cr. So if the place of crime is in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata  and Delhi the respective HC will have the jurisdiction or else it is the Civil Judge Senior Division CJSD in non metropolitan areas where the jurisdiction lies).I got the injunction against the accused and the Criminal trial is going on in the JMFC .


    Advocate (Dr.) Prashant Mali, PhD International Cyber Law & Cyber Warfare 

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 22, 2020 at 2:12 AM

    Sir, Congratulation for successful injunction Order in favour of your client, very informative thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 25, 2020 at 9:38 AM

    Sir
    I have one query. You have filed cases 1 at criminal offences and 1 for Civil damages. Is this not fall under Double jeopardy?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Prerna SinghAugust 1, 2020 at 2:13 AM

    Thanks for sharing this. I must say this is really good blog. Kindly share more. Visit cyber security course

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownAugust 9, 2020 at 11:57 PM

    Thank you for explaining the Cyber Security in a effective way so that it reaches us in a manner which is understandable .Keep Sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Prerna SinghSeptember 5, 2020 at 3:51 AM

    Thanks for the blog. I must suggest your readers to Visit Cyber Security Training Course in Delhi

    ReplyDelete

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