My friend had a net friend and while exchanging friendly mails she sent him some of her scanned photographs. Now this guy, who never disclosed his real identity, is not only troubling her but is also threatening her to fabricate her photographs and float on the internet. We seek your help to know that in case he defames my friend what remedy do we have against him? Neelam Singh, JharkhandIf a person defames another, both criminal and civil remedies are available. However, the problem in this case arises from the fact that the identity of the person responsible for the defamation is not presently known. It is legally possible to track the sender of an e-mail, using highly specialised tools. This will be done by law enforcement agencies, if a crime is reported to them. Defamation is a crime under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, and if it is of an obscene nature, a conviction is also possible under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Once the culprit is located, civil action can also be initiated against him, to recover damages for the tort of defamation. Apart from an action against the person who makes the defamatory statement, it might be possible to bring action against the Internet Service Provider as well.In what is cited as a landmark judgement, the Delhi High Court has recently granted an injunction prohibiting an employee, who had sent derogatory e-mail to his employer, from sending any further such e-mail. As the identity of the person was known, it was possible to take preventive action against him.We are manufacturers of copper wires and in order to upgrade our technology and to expand our business we want to hire some well-qualified technical person. We seek your advise as to how it can be ensured that our so hired employees do not get lured by our competitors’ more attractive pay packages etc. and terminate the employment contract by leaving us in a disadvantageous position. How can we prevent this from happening? P R Dutta, DelhiIt is difficult for an employer to prevent employees from leaving his service for better opportunities elsewhere. According to Indian law, every agreement by which anyone is restrained from exercising a lawful profession, trade or business of any kind is to that extent void. However, if a restraint clause included in an agreement appears reasonable to the court, regard being had to the nature of the business and extent of restriction, the same will not be considered as a restraint on trade. Courts have generally upheld restrictions on employment for short periods of time (say two years) and within limited geographical areas. Accordingly, employees cannot be retained in the employment perpetually or by court injunction. While refusing to grant injunction against employees who had left the service of the employer for better prospects, the courts in a recent case upheld that an employee’s right to terminate the service contract couldn’t be curtailed. The rationale was that freedom in free market economy has to be zealously protected in the larger interest of free trade and business. The judgement was obviously passed in the facts and circumstances of that particular case, but unless there are special circumstances which justify such restrictions, the courts are unlikely to enforce restrictive clauses in employment contracts.What property rights are created by the entry in an extract from village form no. 7/12? Is it possible to challenge the right of the owner of the property or his legal representatives on the basis of this extract? Sunil Shukla, Delhi The extract of village form 7/12 is part of the revenue record maintained by the administration and relates to the possession of property. Such a revenue record is not a document of title. In the absence of other proofs of title, a 7/12 extract may be used to show possession in a claim for title, but it is not conclusive proof of title to property.Therefore, the presence of a person’s name in a 7/12 extract does not, by itself, grant title to that person. Ownership will be determined by the title documents of the property, such as duly registered sale deeds.
