'Naughty' emails can land you in Jail

Beware before you click the forward button on that "naughty" email that just arrived in your inbox. It could land you in jail for five years along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

The recent case of a chartered accountant Meenakshi Maheshwari, suing eight employees of global consultancy firm KPMG, has once again focused attention on cyber crime in India.

While Maheshwari has filed a case of sexual harassment, sources in the cyber crime cell and legal experts believe that such cases can also attract penalties under India's stringent cyber crime law — the Information Technology Act.

Laws pertaining to sexual harassment at the workplace in the country are guided by the Supreme Court's landmark judgment in the Vishaka case in 1997. The guidelines — known commonly as the Vishaka guidelines — defines sexual harassment as "any unwelcome sexually determined behaviour, such as physical contact, a demand or request for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography or any physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature".

Though there is no specific law for sexual harassment, police apply various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including section 209 (obscene act in public place), section 354 (outraging a woman's modesty by assaulting her) and section 509 (outraging a woman's modesty by word or gesture or act).

These offences are punishable with jail terms ranging between three months to two years. However in cases, where obscene emails or smses are forwarded, it can attract the tough IT Act. Section 67 of the Act deals with publishing obscene information in electronic form, under which offences like forwarding obscene or pornographic mail comes under.