india computer
what are the provisions related to IT act 2000 confiscation?
<p>The IT Act (2000) §76 states that any person liable for an offence under the IT Act (2000) shall suffer confiscation of the IT device on which the confiscation has been made. Are there any provisions for how long a confiscation can or cannot last? I researched the act(including drafts) and couldn't find anything regarding this.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Any computer, computer system, floppies, compact disks, tape drives or any other accessories related thereto, in respect of which any provision of this Act, rules, orders or regulations made thereunder has been or is being contravened, shall be liable to confiscation:</p>
<p>Provided that where it is established to the satisfaction of the court adjudicating the confiscation that the person in whose possession, power or control of any such computer, computer system, floppies, compact disks, tape drives or any other accessories relating thereto is found is not responsible for the contravention of the provisions of this Act, rules, orders or regulations made thereunder, the court may, instead of making an order for confiscation of such computer, computer system, floppies, compact disks, tape drives or any other accessories related thereto, make such other order authorised by this Act against the person contravening of the provisions of this Act, rules, orders or regulations made thereunder as it may think fit.<br><a href="https://www.indiacode.nic.in/show-data?actid=AC_CEN_45_76_00001_200021_1517807324077&amp;sectionId=13109&amp;sectionno=76&amp;orderno=100" rel="nofollow noreferrer">source</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It's one of the few laws where confiscation is a punishment.</p>

<h2>Confiscation</h2>
<p>Confiscation comes from Latin &quot;confiscatio&quot; (“to declare property of the fiscus” - To declare the property of the public treasury) is the act of the government seizing an item permanently under its direct meaning.</p>
<h2>Seizure</h2>
<p>A property that is <strong>seized</strong> is taken by the government to do something with it, such as taking the car with the broken window while investigating a crime, temporarily parking the trucks for highway construction, or actually building the highway on.</p>
<p>The seized item or land can become government property by forfeiture, court order (at which point it is confiscated), or might be returned at some point if it isn't confiscated. If compensation is required, usually money is returned instead of the item.</p>
<p>In the examples, the outcome of the two latter is somewhat easy to deduce: the land for parking is returned, and the owner of the land under the highway instead gets payment for his land that becomes government property.</p>
<p>The car with the smashed window would be generally returned to its real owner if he was not involved in the crime.</p>
<h2>Correct Order Of Operations</h2>
<p>So technically, the Police <em>first</em> seize an item, then the court rules the item to be confiscated, which means it becomes government property.</p>
<h3>Forfeiture?</h3>
<p>Forfeiture is only different from Confiscation in the process of how it happens. Forfeiture and Confiscation both have the same outcome but at times different means. In older legal texts, the two words always come together: Confiscation and Forfeiture.</p>
<p>In modern parlance, Confiscation is usually used when the seizure of an illegal thing happens, such as drugs, where Forfeiture is used when a legal thing is demanded by the government, such as land.</p>
<p>See also, in the US, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Civil Asset Forfeiture</a> and Criminal Asset Forfeiture.</p>
<h2>India &amp; Confiscation</h2>
<p>In India, there are actually many more laws that confiscate or forfeit items or land to the government, <a href="https://advocatechenoyceil.com/2020/03/21/confiscation-and-forfeiture-of-properties-in-india" rel="nofollow noreferrer">as this article elaborates</a>. The most relevant one seems to be the Criminal Procedure Code (1973), which deals with property <em>in general</em>, when criminal charges are dealt with:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="452">
<li>Order for disposal of property at conclusion of trial.—(1) When an inquiry or trial in any Criminal
Court is concluded, <strong>the Court may make such order as it thinks fit for the disposal</strong>, <strong>by destruction, confiscation</strong> or
delivery to any person claiming to be entitled to possession thereof or otherwise, of any property or document
produced before it or in its custody, or regarding which any offence appears to have been committed, or which has
been used for the commission of any offence</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>This paragraph puts the court in charge of determining if, how, and when the property is returned to anyone or if the government owns a shiny new thing or has to put it into a crusher. In the case of the specific paragraph in the IT Act (2000), the court is granted an <strong>additional</strong> option besides confiscation:</p>
<p>If the judge is satisfied that the person charged was <em>not</em> the culprit for the illegal software, the court may grant <em>other</em> orders enumerated besides seizing the item.</p>
