Bombay High Court Clarifies Interplay between Information Technology Act, 2000 and Indian Penal Code 1860, in Cybercrime Cases

The Hon’ble Bombay High Court in its latest decision dated April 15, 2024, in the case of Awadhesh Kumar Parasnath Pathak Vs State of Maharashtra and Anr. held that while the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) is a special Act for addressing cybercrimes and has an overriding effect, it does not preclude the application of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (“IPC”) in cases where the offences are not adequately addressed under the IT Act.  

The Court deliberated upon whether actions covered under Section 43 read with Section 66 of the IT Act (Penalty and compensation for damage to computer, computer system, etc.) constitute fraudulent or dishonest behaviour. The Court emphasized that these provisions do not encompass situations where permission to use the computer system is obtained through deception from the custodian of a computer system and further observed that while the IT Act addresses dishonest and fraudulent acts, it lacks explicit provisions regarding deceit which is a crucial element in establishing offences under the IPC.

The case in question before the Court involved an Accused, who was formerly employed as a Technical Manager at Cosmo Films Limited, company. The allegations arose regarding the unauthorized use and dissemination of sensitive business information stored on a company-issued laptop. The Accused faced charges under Sections 408 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC, along with Sections 43(b), 66, and 72 of the IT Act. The Accused approached the court claiming that the sections under IPC could not be invoked as those elements were covered in the sections under the IT Act and therefore, being charged under both the statutes would amount to double jeopardy.   

The court rejected the said contention of the Accused and highlighted that, certain aspects of offences such as cheating and criminal breach of trust as defined by IPC are not entirely covered by the IT Act. Therefore, the IPC provisions can still be invoked even if any element of an offence under the IPC is absent from an act that is punishable under the IT Act. Thus, the court held that the provisions of IPC would still apply if any component necessary for an offence under IPC is missing from the conduct that is an offence under the IT Act.