Case of Cyberstalking

 Little did Seema Khanna (name changed), an employee with an embassy in New Delhi, know that web surfing would lead to an invasion of her privacy.
In an apparent case of cyber stalking, Khanna (32) received a series of e-mails from a man asking her to either pose in the nude for him or pay Rs 1 lakh to him. In her complaint to Delhi Police, the woman said she started receiving these mails in the third week of November.

The accused threatened Khanna that he would put her morphed pictures on display at sex websites , along with her telephone number and address. He also allegedly threatened to put up these pictures in her neighbourhood in southwest Delhi.
"Initially, she ignored the mails , but soon she started receiving letters through post, repeating the same threat. She was forced to report the matter to the police," said an officer with cyber crime cell.
That, however, was not the end of her ordeal. The accused mailed the woman her photographs . The woman claimed these were the same photographs which she had kept in her mail folder. The police said the accused had hacked her e-mail password which enabled him to access the pictures.

A preliminary inquiry into the complaint has revealed that the mails were sent to the victim from a cyber cafe in south Delhi. "We hope to trace the accused soon," said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Dependra Pathak.

The police feel the accused might be known to the victim as he seemed to know a lot about her.

The cyber stalker can be booked under Section 509 of the IPC for outraging the modesty of a woman and also under the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Net crime

• Woman threatened by cyber stalker who managed to get her photographs from her mail folder

• In another case, a housewife started receiving obscene calls from across the world after a hacker flashed her details on the Net

• Delhi Police set up two computer training centres this year to enable its staff to investigate cyber crime

• The police admit IT Act, 2000 is not enough to deal with cyber

Source: Times of India 26.12.2003