Online fraud case: J&K High Court orders FIR against Facebook India head, others

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the J&K Cyber Cell to register FIR against Facebook India head and other accused persons in a matter concerning online fraud.

Disposing of a petition filed by a Jammu resident Vivek Sagar through his counsel Advocate Deepak Sharma, the High Court directed the in-charge Cyber Cell to register a case against the accused and to investigate the matter by the concerned branch dealing with the cyber offences.

The accused in the matter include Facebook India, its country head Ajit Mohan, Bajaj Finance Limited, Rajiv Jain MD Bajaj Finance, and others.

Earlier, the petitioner who was cheated through an advertisement made on Facebook and was duped of an amount of Rs 20,700 by an online fraudster had approached the Jammu and Kashmir Cyber Police Cell wherein it was alleged by the complainant that he had been trapped by accused persons including Facebook, Bajaj Finance, Quadrant Televentures, and others who duped him of Rs 20,700, by making the use of internet and SMS Communication services and thereby committing the offence under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act, 2000.

Advocate Deepak Sharma, who filed the petition in the High Court, said that as the cyber Police “did not take any action on his client’s complaint”, they approached the local Jammu Court under section 156(3) CrPC seeking direction for registration of FIR against the accused person.

“…but the local court also left it open to the wisdom of the police authorities to decide for the registration of the FIR. The order of the local court was challenged by the petitioner in the J&K High Court which ordered the police to file FIR against accused persons,” the advocate said.

The High Court order passed by Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur states: “ On a perusal of the order impugned, it thus appears that there is a contradiction in the order passed by the Court below. While on one hand, the learned Magistrate appears to be satisfied that cognizable offence seemed to have been committed on the basis of averments made in the complaint, on the other hand, the learned magistrate has forwarded the complaint to be looked into by Crime branch with a further direction to register a case only if some cognizable offences are found to have been committed”.

The court directed the incharge Cyber Cell to register FIR and to investigate the matter by the concerned branch dealing with the cyber offences.