Mangaluru: After 13 year long court battle, Wildlife Conservationist, Niren Jain’s undeterred efforts to seek justice for the illegal seizure and hacking of his computer has borne fruit, with the Mangalore II JMFC judge Santhosh S. Kunder ordering the registration of a criminal case against the then DCF of Kudremukh, Anita S. Arekal under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. Arekal who is now Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (APCCF), Social Forestry, Bengaluru has been issued summons to appear before the court.

The issue dates back to 2004 when she, as the then DCF of Kudremukh, had conducted an illegal search of Niren Jain’s office and seized his personal computer despite having no jurisdiction or authority to effect such a seizure. This blatant abuse of power was unleashed ostensibly to threaten and harass Niren Jain who was campaigning for stoppage of iron ore mining in the heart of Kudremukh National Park.

The mining operation, which was causing severe impacts on the Bhadra River and its surrounding shola-grassland ecosystem, was subsequently ordered to close by the Supreme Court. The JMFC in his order has recorded that she accessed information from Jain’s computer and made available personal information to the media which prima facie makes out commission of offences punishable under Section 66 and 72 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 25 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

Niren’s first legal victory came in the form of a scathing order in 2005 by the Principal Sessions Judge, Chikmagalur, who held that the entire search and seizure was illegal, without jurisdiction and authority of law. This order was challenged before the High Court of Karnataka, which on August 12, 2011 dismissed the state’s appeal and directed that the order passed by the Principal Sessions Judge was strictly in accordance with law and did not suffer from any legal infirmity that called for intervention by a higher court. The High Court further declared that “the entire search and seizure was without authority of law”

Further, the High Court of Karnataka had, in 2011, also quashed the FIR filed against Niren Jain, and made serious observations that – “… The so called evidence collected in support of the allegations, in support of FIR, do not show any commission of offence and make out a case against the accused. However, the proceedings is maliciously instituted with the ulterior motive of wrecking vengeance on the accused with a view to spite them”.

Now the JMFC, considering all these major legal conclusions and strong arguments of Niren’s lawyer Vikram Hegde, has in the order dated July 17, 2017 ordered the registration of a criminal case and issue of summons against the accused – the then DCF Anita Arekal. The above offences carry an imprisonment term upto three years and fine extending upto to Rs 2 lakh.