#recruitmentprocessderailed

[seemabhatnagar]

Cyber Crime during online recruitment examination

Gurmeet Singh v. State of Punjab

Before Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh

Anticipatory bail Petition was dismissed on 21.07.2023

FIR u/s 420, 465, 438, 471, 120-B, 409 IPC & Sec. 66-D of Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008

 Case of the Petitioner

Apprehending arrest petitioner Gurmeet Singh moved anticipatory bail application as the petitioner was granted interim bail on 10.04.2023. Allegations levelled against the petitioner is that he found out candidates who could solve the online question-paper of the examination for the recruitment of Police Sub Inspectors in the State of Punjab, and was also running the center from where the examinations center was hacked.

Contention of the Petitioner’s Counsel

He is seeking bail on the ground that the evidence collected against him relates to the disclosure statement of accused Ankit, who was mentioned as accused in the disclosure statement of Laveneesh Gupta, and therefore this evidence is inadmissible.

Contention of the State’s Counsel

Anticipatory bail petition of the petitioner be not allowed as they want the custodial investigation to know the role of other people involved in the recruitment scams, including the beneficiaries, as this scam has already derailed the recruitment process for Sub Inspectors.

Background

1.    The SHO, Police Station Anaaj Mandi, Patiala, received secret information on 16.09.2021 that online examinations

for recruitment of various departments were conducted at the center at Infra IT Solutions, Zila Parishad Complex, Patiala, and some hackers have hacked the computers.

2.    The informant further informed that, one candidate Gurpreet Singh had secured the highest marks, and he had given his examination from the center of Infra IT Solutions, and Gurpreet Singh had not secured marks because of merits but because a gang of cyber criminals had hacked computer centers and someone else had remotely solved his question paper. He secured the highest marks by paying massive amounts of money to the cyber-thugs

3.    Based on this information, the police registered an FIR during the investigation, candidate Gurpreet Singh was arrested and during investigation several other people involved in the crime were also arrested.

4.    Ankit, one of the arrested accused informed the investigator the involvement Gurmeet Singh, the present petitioner. He informed that the center was initially run by Jasvir Sigh who had left sometime back thereafter it was run by Gurmeet Singh who used to make entries of the candidates for examination.

5.    The High Court on 06.07.2023 had directed the concerned Deputy Superintendent of Police to show the evidence collected against the present petitioner. Dy S P submitted evidence collected by way of Affidavit. Affidavit corroborated the statement of the other accused Ankit.

Observation of the Court

1.    The petitioner seeks anticipatory bail on the grounds of parity with the co-accused. A perusal of the order reveals that the co-accused were granted regular bail, and one ground for their bail was prolonged custody. On the contrary, the petitioner is seeking anticipatory bail; as such, he is not entitled to bail on parity.

2.    This Court considered the evidence collected after disclosure statements of co accused which point out three relevant facts: -

(i)The petitioner had worked with the said center.

(ii) After Jasvir Kumar left the center, the petitioner had worked there.

(iii) There are various communications between the petitioner and other accused which   

the petitioner had failed to explain.

3.    The allegations against the petitioner and co-accused are grave. There is sufficient evidence that the candidates who had appeared from the said center had got suspiciously more marks than their calibre.

4.    Given the nature of allegations, custodial interrogation is required. An analysis of the allegations and evidence collected does not warrant the grant of bail to the petitioner.

5.    The petitioner fails to make a case for bail at this stage.

6.    This court will fail in its duty if it closes this order at this point.

7.    If this scam had not come to light, so many corrupt and unethical people would have got appointed to the sensitive post of Sub Inspector by giving money, and it can be well imagined what kind of officers they would have become and how much injustice such officers would have caused to the communities and the State.

8.    A highly sensitive and essential recruitment in the police, because of hacking  not only got impaired but also got derailed. It also exposed the vulnerability of the examination system and the usage of breach-able and unsafe software.

9.    It is for the Executive to ensure that software used for such sensitive matters is fool-proof as well as secured and its code is written considering the present-day exponential technological advancements and to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence by hackers.

10. There can be no leniency while dealing with bail petitions of cyber-thugs in the matters of cyber-crime.

11. Cyber criminals must be dealt with stringently and custodial interrogation of these cyber thugs in these kinds of sensitive matters is required not only to unfold the involvement of other persons but also to find out the vulnerability in the systems to stop future breaches.

Decision

Anticipatory Bail Petition was dismissed and Interim bail order was also recalled.

Seema Bhatnagar

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