ISSUE:
Whether the appellant, having been discharged under Section 67 of the IT Act, could still be prosecuted under Section 292 of the IPC?
Whether the IT Act, being a special legislation, overrides the IPC in matters related to electronic records and offenses committed in electronic form?
RULE:
Section 67 of the IT Act specifically governs punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form. The presence of a special provision dealing with the same subject matter as Section 292 IPC excludes the application of the latter.
Section 81 of the IT Act provides an overriding effect over any inconsistent provisions of other laws. If an offense is covered under the IT Act, recourse to IPC provisions is not permissible.
The principle of strict interpretation in criminal law mandates that special provisions enacted for a particular category of offenses must be applied in place of general penal provisions, ensuring that no person is punished under two separate laws for the same act when one law exclusively governs the field.