Hyderabad: Naval Officer Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For Sending Obscene Messages To A Minor Girl Online

A junior naval officer was sentenced to two years in prison on Saturday for harassing a Hyderabad-based girl on Facebook. The accused, Dilip Kumar, has been found guilty of sending “obscene messages” to the girl on 27 February 2010, when she was a 16-year old minor.

As reported by the Mumbai Mirror, the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Nampally), Moka Suvarna Raju, also instructed Kumar, a lieutenant posted at INS Shikar in Colab, to pay a fine of Rs 15,000. The fine was imposed because he was found guilty under section 67, 67-B (c) (d) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and for outraging the modesty of a woman under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Kumar was 27 when he committed the crime seven years ago. Today, he is a father of two children. The court has given him a period of 30 days to appeal before a High Court.

This is one of the earliest cases of cyber crime in India. Over the years, cyber crimes have increased in the country at an alarming rate.

The prosecution said the girl had added Kumar on her Facebook friend list when she was looking for people from the navy “as her father was a retired naval officer”. When she rejected his proposals to a relationship, he responded with abusive messages. A team of CID arrested Kumar in 2010 following complaints from the girl’s parents but was out on bail within a week.

“Since he has been given the option of appealing in the higher court, we have not yet detained him. If he goes for appeal, we will follow the orders of the upper court. Or else, we will send him to jail on April 30,” Cyber Crime Inspector B Ravi Kumar Reddy, told Mumbai Mirror.

However, there is no information on any action taken against Kumar though the officials at INS Shikar have been informed, added Reddy.

The internet has become a massive source of cyber crimes that go unnoticed, particularly against the youngsters.

The Logical Indian appreciates the steps taken by the government to punish Dilip Kumar, as this will be used as an example to curb the rate cyber crimes in the future.