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Karnataka High Court

Shri Sanjeev Bansal vs Shri Dev Anshul on 23 November, 2021

Author: M. Nagaprasanna

Bench: M. Nagaprasanna

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU

  DATED THIS THE 23RD DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2021

                        BEFORE

   THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M. NAGAPRASANNA

          CRIMINAL PETITION No.4999/2018

BETWEEN

SHRI SANJEEV BANSAL
S/O LATE SHRI BHARAT N. BANSAL
AGED ABOUT 52 YEARS
NO.203, VITHOLA APARTMENTS
KALENA AGRAHARA
BEGUR HOBLI
OFF BANNERGHATTA ROAD
BENGALURU-560 076.
                                        ... PETITIONER

[BY SRI. KIRAN B.S., ADV.
   (PHYSICAL HEARING)]

AND

SHRI. DEV ANSHUL
S/O PROF. S.K.SINHA
AGED ABOUT 39 YEARS
NO.517, VITHOLA APARTMENTS
KALENA AGRAHARA
BEGUR HOBLI
OFF BANNERGHATTA ROAD
BENGALURU - 560 076
                                       ... RESPONDENT

[BY SRI. K.B. ONKARA, ADV. (ABSENT)]
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    THIS CRIMINAL PETITION IS FILED UNDER SECTION
482 OF CR.P.C., PRAYING TO QUASH THE ENTIRE
PROCEEDINGS     INSTITUTED      MALICIOUSLY    BY
RESPONDENT-COMPLAINANT IN C.C.NO.27413/2016 IN
THE COURT OF I A.C.M.M., BANGALORE AND AWARD
EXEMPLARY COSTS TO THE PETITIONER.

     THIS CRIMINAL PETITION COMING ON FOR ORDERS
THIS DAY, THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING:

                        ORDER

The petitioner is before this Court calling in question the proceedings in C.C.No.27413/2016 pending before the I A.C.M.M., Bengaluru.

2. This Court, by its orders dated 11.11.2021 and 16.11.2021 has passed the following orders:

"11.11.2021:

There is no representation on behalf of respondent, on both occasions i.e., in the forenoon and afternoon.

As a last chance, awaiting appearance of the learned counsel appearing for the respondent, list the matter on 16.11.2021.

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16.11.2021:

There was no representation on behalf of respondent on 11.11.2021, both in the forenoon and in the afternoon. As a last chance, the matter was adjourned to this day. Even today, there is no representation on behalf of respondent both in the forenoon and in the afternoon.

In the interest of justice, the mater is adjourned to 18.11.2021. In the event, respondent would not appear on that day, the matter would be decided in his absence, as was directed earlier.

List the matter on 18.11.2021 for Orders."

Again the order was directed to be listed on 23.11.2021. Even today (23.11.2021), both in forenoon and in the afternoon, there is no representation on behalf of the respondent. Since, the respondent has remained absent throughout as aforesaid, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, 4 Sri. Kiran B.S. was heard and the material on record is perused.

3. Brief facts leading to the filing of the present petition, as borne out from the pleadings, are as follows:

The petitioner and the respondent - complainant are residents of one apartment complex namely -

Vithola Apartment consisting of 140 tenements. The owners of the apartment have formed themselves into an association in the name of 'Vithola Owners' Association and an "online community forum", a group to address the grievances of the owners living in the apartment. It is a community forum. The issue that triggered the present proceedings are that the petitioner, who was the Secretary of the association shooting an e-mail on the common platform, which reads as follows:

"1. e- mail.

On 5 November 2012 12:24, Sanjeev Bansal <[email protected]> wrote: Dear All 5 It has been noticed the Kids & Toddlers are travelling in lift without Guardians, which is highly unsafe. We request all parents to advise there Children not to go in the lift alone. They should be accompanied by some Adult. Children are also pressing all floor buttons & going up & down, they have make the lift a playing area. Some parent feed there children in lift by going up & down several times which also should be stopped immediately.

We hope all parents will seriously take note of this & advise & look after there Children for not doing this. We hope you understand the seriousness of travelling children in lift alone.

SANJEEV

--

--

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its 6 whole life believing that it is stupid."-Albert Einstein"

(emphasis added) This e-mail indicated that kids and toddlers, who are traveling in the lift without guardians, is highly unsafe and a request was made to all the parents to advice their children not to get into the lift alone.

4. This was replied by the complainant taking offence of the statement that was made by the petitioner in the said request communication. The reply given by the complainant reads as follows:

"2nd- e- mail It looks this man Dev himself is retard. Good to Ignore his emails.

On 12 November 2012 11:05, mangala narayan <[email protected]> wrote:

Retards? Don't you think it's too harsh? Pls use appropriate words when you are talking about children.

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On Nov 12, 2012 10:41 A.M, "Dev Anshul"

<[email protected]> wrote:

Yeah I mean the idea of pressing all buttons on elevators is pretty retarded, right? Why would a child do that anyway? I don't remember having such a retarded sense of humour as a kid...Do kids have no forms of wholesome humour nowadays, or are we bringing up an entire generation of retards?"

5. Thereafter, certain other communications are made through this e-mail, as it was a common platform between the residents of the apartment, who were the members of the association.

6. It transpires that the issue of children being left alone in the lift cropped up again and there were again trail of e-mails between the residents of the association and the complainant. The entire trail of e-mail between them reads as follows:

"Dev Anshul <[email protected]> To:"[email protected]"<vithola- [email protected]>, 8 "[email protected]"

<[email protected] > Dear All, The previous article was about treating your kids as adults and getting adult-like behaviour in response, at least most of the time. In situations where it is not so simple, as I would inevitably expect, perhaps the techniques used by FBI hostage negotiators can come in handy in helping kids calm down, at least in the long term if not within, say, a few months (hey - that's still better than them growing up into suicidal teenagers):

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2015/10/out-of- control-kits/ Lets hope the frequent and highly disturbing sounds of psychotic wailing reduce in the neighbourhood in the long term. Shit happens. Thanks and regards,

-Dev

--

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."-Albert Einstein

--

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You received this message because you re subscribed to the Google Groups "Vithola_Apartment_Residents" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to vithola_apartment_residents+unsubscribe@google groups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Manish RAT <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: "[email protected]"

<[email protected]>, "[email protected]"

<[email protected] > Can someone remove this person from mailing list. He is fit for living in Jungle.

Dear All, The previous article was about treating your kids as adults and getting adult-like behaviour in response, at least most of the time. In situations where it is not so simple, as I would inevitably expect, perhaps the techniques used by 10 FBI hostage negotiators can come in handy in helping kids calm down, at least in the long term if not within, say, a few months (hey - that's still better than them growing up into suicidal teenagers):

http://ww.bakadesuyo.com/2015/10/out-of- control-kits/ Let's hope the frequent and highly disturbing sounds of psychotic wailing reduce in the neighbourhood in the long term. Shit happens. Thanks and regards,

-Dev Dev Anshul <[email protected]> To:"[email protected]" <vithola- [email protected]> Cc: "vithola [email protected]"

<[email protected] > Thanks Manish - your compliments are always welcome. Please keep them coming!! Your encouragement is always appreciated. Regards,

-Dev [Quoted text hidden]

--

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"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - albert Einstein [quoted text hidden] Dev Anshul <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]"

<[email protected]> Cc:

"[email protected]"

<[email protected] > Manish, Living in a jungle is not too easy, though-there are hygiene issues that could adversely affect one's life expectancy. Have you tried it for an extended period of time? - I don't think it is self-sustaining for the kind of lifestyle and reduced microbial load we'have become accustomed to. If you have any ideas on how to make if self-sustaining, please feel free to share them with me. I'm all ears.

Thanks in anticipation,

-Dev [quoted text hidden] 12 Vishwanath belliappa <vishwanath [email protected]> To: dev anshul <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected], [email protected] Manish Don't do that. Personal attacks are not good for community living. You only provoke other people to act negatively.

We have choices to read and absorb and take actions on suggestions or ignore some of the mails entirely. Either way, I would like to go down the path of belitting anyone. Regards Vish [quoted text hidden] Dev Anshul <[email protected]> To: Vishwanath Belliappa <[email protected]> Cc: "[email protected]"

<[email protected]>, "[email protected]"

<[email protected] > Vish, 13 I do not, however, see anything wrong with this - Manish was only expressing his candid opinion, and I think it is up to the moderators of these email groups to determine whether I should be removed from the mailing list.

I have only tow issues, actually - what would be the efficacy of the actions proposed by Manish (if that is indeed his read name)? if my email address is removed from the mailing list, no doubt I wouldn't receive any emails from the group, but I could well continue to send emails that would continue to get his marbles. For a permanent solution, as Manish had said, I should live in a jungle where I do not have access to the internet. However, there are obvious hygiene issues with this, as I had pointed out, and he didn't follow up on this suggested course of action with a meaningful method of executing it.

So Manish, the obvious question is: If you were not serious about your suggestions what was the reason for making them? You do know that righteous anger is essentially impotent unless followed up by meaningful action, right? Did you even read the articles in the links appended n my previous emails to determine whether or not they 14 wee truly worthy of your righteous anger, for all its obvious lack of insidiousness? Thanks and regards,

-Dev [quoted text hidden]"

7. A cursory perusal at trail of e-mails dated 23.10.2015 and onwards clearly indicate that the correspondences in the e-mail is between certain residents and the complainant. No e-mail is either sent or commented upon by the petitioner. Explanation is given to one comment made by Mr.Manish, who is also a resident of the association in the trail of e-mails, which also is not by the petitioner.

8. The complainant, on the said e-mail trail, registers a private complaint against the petitioner invoking Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The narration in the complaint is the commencement of the trail of e-mail on 14.11.2012 and the correspondences that had happened in the year 2015.

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The complaint insofar as it is germane is extracted for the purpose of quick reference:

"9. The complainant submits that the accused has skewed approach to every issue and he responds abusively and aggressively even during the committee meetings. It is the accused, who without any rhyme or reason. Out of the blue, started sending grossly offensive messages by way of smear campaign on electronic public platform, targeting the complainant. To hide true identity of the sender, the accused used fake email ID [email protected] which is fit case of cyber crime attracting Section 66D of The Information Technology Act 2000.

10. The accused sent his fake email on 14th November 2012 in which he said "it looks this man, Dev himself is retard. Good to ignore his emails." directly referring to the complainant. Though the accused wanted to hide his true identity but unwittingly he revealed his true identity by appending his usual email signature at the bottom of this fake email:

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SANJEEV BANSAL Corporate Head - International Marketing Aro granite industries ltd.

Shoolagiri Hosur Taluk - 635117 Krishnagiri Dist.

Tamil Nadu, India Cell : +91- 98440 77145 Cell: +91 99444 03398 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.arotile.com Residence 203 Vithola Apts Kalena Agrahara Banargatta Road Bangalore 560076 Home Phone +91 8026488253 Rama Cell + 9448377145 US Cell +1 757 2169990 It may be seen that name "SANJEEV" is typed in capitals as generally typed by him while originating his office emails as "SANJEEV BANSAL." The said email is three pages and contains the full address of the Company 17 where he works and his residence address which matches with the apartment number owned by the accused. This fake email is addressed to "[email protected] which means it is placed on the electronic public platform. It is obvious that by sending such fake email, the accused succeeded in insulting, denigrating and defaming the complainant within the Vithola residents email fora and thereby caused the complainant mental agony and pain. Extract of this email is produced hereto as Document No.4.

23. The complainant submits that this complaint is not hit by limitation as it is filed within 3 years from date of cause of action which finally arose on 24th October 2015 when the accused repeated his wrongful act attracting Section 499, 500 and 504 of IPC and Section 66D of The IT Act 2000 by sending grossly offensive and obnoxious messages using fake email Id [email protected] to defame, 18 insult, denigrate, cause mental and psychological agony to the complainant by placing such messages on the electronic public platform - vithola-

[email protected].

PRAYER Wherefore, the complainant prays that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased:

A) To charge the accused with and try him for offences punishable under Section 500 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 66D of The Information Technology Act;

B) To direct the Cyber Crime Police to investigate search and seize the computers/smartphones/tablets (as applicable) used by accused to send offensive and defamatory messages about the complainant;

C) To grant compensation of Rs.50,00,000/-

(Rupees Fifty Lakh) towards the insult, injury, humiliation, disrepute and mental agony suffered by complainant as a result of the offensive and obnoxious messages sent by 19 the accused by using fake email Id Manish RAT to email group vithola-

[email protected] which is public electronic platform;

D) Pass any other Order(s) in the interest of justice and equity."

9. Based upon the said private complaint, an FIR is registered against the petitioner for offences punishable under Sections 499, 500, 504 of IPC read with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act 2000.

10. Sections 499 and 500 of IPC reads as follows:

"499. Defamation.--Whoever,by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is 20 said, except in the cases hereinafter excepted, to defame that person.

500. Punishment for defamation.--Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both."

In terms of the afore-quoted provision with regard to defamation, if the petitioner had involved himself in circulating defamatory statements about the complainant, it would have been an altogether a different circumstance.

11. The last of the e-mail that was communicated between the petitioner and respondent has produced at Annexure - B, which is on 05.11.2012.

The subsequent dates of the trail of e-mails, which range from October 23, 2015 to October 25, 2015 do not involve the petitioner and on an assumption that the 21 petitioner is involved in the said communication of e-mails, the complainant has registered the complaint.

12. Even the allegation in the complaint while stating that it was not hit by limitation, is that grossly an offence and obnoxious messages using fake e-mail ID of one Mr.Manish to defame the complainant is instituted by the petitioner is the allegation. If one Mr.Manish has spoken through his e-mails, the imaginary assumption of creating a fake mail ID cannot be let to proceed further, as the complaint itself is generated at the whim of the complainant.

13. Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 which is invoked reads as follows:

"66D. Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource.- Whoever, by means of any communication device or computer resource cheats by personating,, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term 22 which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees."

Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 deals with cheating by personation by using a computer resource.

14. The issue is with regard to what the petitioner had initially shot an e-mail for, ended in 2012. In 2015, the issue is again brought up by different residents and not by the petitioner. There can be no better imaginary plea than what the complainant contends that the petitioner has used fake e-mails of one Mr.Manish to defame him as Mr.Manish himself has replied and in correspondence with all the e-mails as could be seen from the trail, which is of the year 2015.

15. Therefore, if proceedings against the petitioner is permitted to be continued on the strength 23 of the complaint, which by itself would not make out any event that would link towards the offences punishable under Sections 499, 500 or 504 of the IPC, the petition deserves to be allowed, failing which, it would degenerate into harassment against the petitioner and be an abuse of the process of the law.

16. For the aforesaid reasons, the following:

ORDER i. Criminal Petition is allowed.

ii. Proceedings in C.C.No.27413/2016 pending before the I A.C.M.M., Bengaluru stands quashed insofar as the petitioner is concerned.

Sd/-

JUDGE KG