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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
S.P. GARG, J.
SHARAT BABU DIGUMARTI - Petitioner
VERSUS
STATE, GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI – Respondent
CRL.REV.P. 127/2015 & CRL.M.A.No.3194/2015
Decided On : 31-08- 2015
Obscenity - Criminal Liability of Manager - Section 292 IPC - Section 67 IT Act - [FACT OF THE CASE] The petitioner, a Senior Manager at an e-commerce company, was charged under Section 292 IPC for facilitating the sale of an obscene video clip on the company's website. [FINDING OF THE COURT] The Court found that the charge against the petitioner was maintainable and that there was sufficient material showing his involvement in the offence. [ISSUES] The issues revolved around the petitioner's individual liability as a manager and the interpretation of the legal provisions under Section 292 IPC and Section 67 IT Act. [RATIO DECIDENDI] The Court held that the petitioner's role in facilitating the sale of the obscene material made him prima facie liable under Section 292 IPC. The Court also emphasized the duty of care and vigilance expected from the petitioner in his managerial role. [FINAL DECISION] The revision petition was dismissed, and the observations in the order were stated to have no impact on the merits of the case.
S.P. GARG, J.
1. The instant revision petition has been preferred by the petitioner – Sharat Babu Digumarti to challenge the legality and propriety of an order dated 22.12.2014 of learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (South), by which charge under Section 292 IPC was ordered to be framed against him. Revision petition is contested by the State.
2. Sequence of events relevant to the present case has been discussed elaborately in case ‘Avnish Bajaj vs. State’, 2008 (105) DRJ 721, decided on 29.05.2008 by this Court. The facts are not in dispute. In the evening of 27.11.2004 (Saturday), co-accused Ravi Raj placed on baazee.com website a listing offering an MMS video clip for sale at Rs.125 per piece adopting the seller’s name as Alice Electronics at 12-A/39, Roshpa Tower, Main Road, Malanche, Kharagpur. Ravi Raj included the clip under the category ‘Books and Magazines’ and sub-category ‘e-books’ to avoid its detection by the filters installed by baazee.com. The electronic website baazee.com when visited had the following item description on its site. “Item 27877408 – DPS Girls having fun!!! Full video + Baazee points.” The price was Rs.125. Under the column “seller’s details” the name indicated was: “alice elec” and Location: “Kharagpur”. The seller was shown as a member since 21.07.2004. Upon clicking on the item description, the listing read as under :
“DPS Girls having fun!!!
Do you want to see that video clip which has rocked the whole DELHI and now has become a hot point of discussion in the entire Nation?
YES, Then what are you waiting for!!!
Just order for this product and it will be delivered to you within few hours.
This video is of a girl of DPS RK PURAM which has been filmed by his boyfriend in very sexual explicit conditions.
Please note : This video clip of around 2.30 Minutes and will be send to you as an email attachment.”
3. The buyer interested in getting a copy had to click on the ‘buy now’ option; make a payment through credit card or ‘paisa pay’ option. The buyer had to pay Rs.128 per clip which included a commission of Rs.3 that went to Baazee.com India Pvt. Ltd. (‘BIPL’). This was deducted from the amount received from the buyer and the balance of Rs.125 per clip was remitted to the seller by the HDFC bank. The seller, on receiving confirmation that payment had been made, would send the video clip by an email attachment by a zip-file with the description ‘dps_rkpuram-sex-scandle.zip’. Between around 8.00 pm or so of 27.11.2004 when the listing went on line till around 10 am on 29.11.2004 when the listing was de-activated, eight transactions of sale of the said video clip took place to buyers located in various parts of the country. At around 8.20 pm on 27.11.2004 information was received on email from one Amit Vohra using emailed threadsincp@sify.com for Community Watch. It was informed that the user of Item ID : 27877408 was trying to sell a video which was illegal in India as it was shot on two people below the legal age of 18 & pornography was illegal in India. The site was advised to sort the issue and report it to the legal authorities to avoid trouble. He received a confirmatory reply at 8.30 p.m. This email was assigned to Namrata of BIPL at around 8.25 pm on 27.11.2004 itself. At around 6.25 pm the next day i.e. 28.11.2004, Sunday, it was assigned to Swapna Sawant of the BIPL and the priority was shifted to the ‘high alert’ category. On 29.11.2004 at 10.10 am baazee.com wrote to Alice Electronics that they had closed the item as it was against the User Agreement. The video clip was removed on 29.11.2004 at around 10.38 a.m.
4. FIR No.645/2004 was registered by Crime Branch of Delhi police on receiving credible information on 09.12.2004. The police sent notices under Section 91 Cr.P.C. to the petitioner, Senior Manager, Trust and Safety, BIPL and Avnish Bajaj (since discharged) and obtained information on the working of the website. On 10.12.2004, in response to it, the petitioner provided details o
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