Bhubaneswar, Aug. 4: The court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Puri, today convicted RTI activist Jayant Das in a case of cyber offence. The court sentenced Das to six years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 9,000.
In 2012, Das had allegedly created a fake profile of the wife of a Puri-based journalist on a pornographic website and posted derogatory and obscene messages. The crime branch, which probed the case, said the conviction was the first such case related to cyber pornography in the state. The case was initially registered with the Baseli Sahi police station in Puri district.
Officers of the investigating agency said the accused had also uploaded the mobile number of the journalist on the porn website on which callers used to make derogatory remarks about his wife. Some of the callers even approached him for wife swapping.
"The FIR also mentioned the Das resorted to such revengeful tactic after the journalist published a news related to the activists criminal activities involving money lending and cheating,' said a police officer.
"During the trial, the prosecution examined 13 witnesses, including a scientist of the Central Forensic Laboratory, Calcutta. The prosecution had also exhibited 55 documents. On the basis of oral and documentary evidence, he was convicted for forgery, identity theft and cyber pornography," said a crime branch officer.
The officer further said investigation had revealed that Das apart from creating the fake porn profile in the name of the wife of the complainant, was also involved in at least six criminal cases that included attempt to murder and illegal use of arms," said a crime branch officer.
Das was subsequently arrested in September 2012 and lodged in jail for more than one month before being granted bail.
Pappu Pom Pom
The trial in the case involving popular Odia comedian Tatwa Prakash Satpathy aka Pappu Pom Pom started today at the special court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The actor was arrested on charges of promoting casting couch and harassing a minor girl sexually.
In the first hearing, the mother and father of the victim appeared before the court along with the complainant of the case Nirupama Ratha, who is a member of Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Khurdha.
The police had registered a case on the basis of a complaint filed by Ratha. The complaint was lodged after the CWC had found prima-facie evidence against the actor. Subsequently, the police on June 30 last year had arrested the actor and his associate Swain from Puri.
