February 15, 2002

    A Global Cyber Crime Treaty, sponsored by the Council of Europe to tackle cyber crimes at a global level is on the anvil. The United States and Japan are pursuing this treaty enthusiastically. It will be the first global initiative to combat cyber crimes at a global level.

    To address the problem of multiplicity of jurisdiction, the Hague Conference on Private International Law is working on the Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgements in Civil and Commercial Matters.

    This Convention seeks to strengthen the global enforcement of private judgements and injunctive relief in commercial litigation.

    The Convention obliges the member States to follow a set of rules regarding cross border litigation and every country is obliged to enforce all the judgements of member countries even if the country has no connection to a particular dispute.

    Provisions of the (Indian) Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Rules framed thereunder, apply also to any offence or contravention committed outside India by any person irrespective of his or her nationality.

    This Act applies to an offence or contravention committed outside India by any person if the act or conduct constituting the offence or contravention involves a computer, computer system or computer network located in India.

    Section 75 of the Information Technology Act, which applies to offence committed outside India, is similar to the longarm statutes of the United States where the US courts assume jurisdiction over acts committed outside its territory.

    This provision has been criticized on the ground that it is unworkable since it is not practicable to bring offenders from foreign countries to India for trying them.

    The need for such a provision, however, becomes clear if the nature of contraventions and offences committed in cyberspace is understood.

    Cyberspace permits offenders to commit offences without having to visit the seen of the crime. Invariable hacking and other kinds of crimes are perpetrated only from outside the country.

    It is just to safeguard the interests of our nationals and the nation and to avoid being caught unaware to deal with a situation where our national interests are threatened, extraterritorial application has been expressly provided in Section 75 of the IT Act.