Send ‘objectionable’ SMS,land in trouble

Citizens can now file complaints at local police stations instead of rushing to the commissionerate,Singh said. Each squad will have a police sub inspector and at least two constables who will work under an inspector,he said.

“The offence in such cases would be cognisable and not non-cognisable as was the case in the past,” DCP (cyber crime) Rajendra Dahale said on Monday. Before the Act was amended,the complaints in cyber cases were mostly civil in nature that entailed compensation and damages. “We used to file chapter cases which are filed in case of non-cognisable cases. Henceforth,we will file cognisable complaints which means the crime is serious in nature,” he said.

Citing cases like sending text messages that some people might call objectionable,Dahale said,“If an individual objects to an SMS which questions his integrity or hurts his dignity or finds it malicious or threatening,he can file a criminal complaint against the sender. This means,people will have to be cautious while sending an SMS.”

The case of Nigerian frauds that inform an individual through an SMS that he has won a lottery would amount to cheating,he added. “A cheating case which entails a jail term could be filed against the senders,” he said.