Monday, January 12, 2009

Kerala top cop gets 6-month term in assault case

January 12, 2009 22:58 IST
An additional director general of police in Kerala [Images] was on Monday sentenced to six months' simple imprisonment by a court in Kochi in connection with a case of assault on the editor of a Malayalam eveninger from Kannur in 1988.

Besides K G Premshankar, who is now the additional director general of police (Protection of Civil Rights) Thiruvananthapuram, three other policemen were also sentenced to six months' simple imprisonment by Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate P D Soman in the case, investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. They are former Kannur circle inspector P Jayaraj, former Mattanur sub inspector R V Kunhiraman and former Kannur sub-inspector K Abdul Gaffoor.

K G Premshankar was the superintendent of police of Kannur when the incident occurred.

The CJM acquitted eight other policemen in the case. He imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on all the four police personnel convicted.

The case relates to the assault of Maniyeri Madhavan, Editor of Sudhinam by the policemen on February 12, 1988, after some reports were published against them.

Following the direction of Supreme court, the CBI had investigated the case. Earlier the local police and the crime branch had investigated the case.

Since Madhavan had passed away a few years ago,
the CJM court directed that the fine amount be handed over to his legal heirs.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Bill to Curb Cyber Crime Introduced

Amended IT Act Tightens Noose on Cyber Criminals

Publishing and transmitting obscene material and offensive, threatening messages via the electronic medium a crime

Thanks to the recently amended IT Act, things you had taken for granted like sending adult text messages and forwarding explicit e-mails could land you in a legal mess.

Just to remind you, it's not just the Internet that the IT Act covers, it also covers activities performed using your computer, PDA, mobile phone, and other devices of communication. So, things like forwarding an SMS and sending an MMS too now fall under the jurisdiction of the IT Act. So what has been touted as an offence? Publishing and transmitting obscene material or any sexually explicit act/content can put you behind bars for a long duration - 5 years, not to mention the hefty 10 lakh fine it attracts. Also included is sending offensive, threatening messages and spreading hate messages using any electronic medium; these too will attract penalties similar to those mentioned earlier. The once popular trend of forwarding MMS clips (usually fake) of celebrities, captured using hidden cameras, too comes under the wrap of the Act now.