The Supreme Court has issued an order to take national-level action to prevent digital arrest scams, provide compensation, and establish grievance redressal mechanisms.
The Supreme Court is suo motu hearing the issue of digital arrest scams. This case came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.
Taking note of the status report filed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the bench of judges said: In 36,290 digital arrest fraud cases, the process of recovering the defrauded money has been completed. A total of Rs. 18.05 crore has been returned to the victims. It is gratifying that these frauds have now declined. However, continuous monitoring is necessary.
A temporary freeze should be imposed on withdrawals from bank accounts linked to online financial fraud. For that purpose, the Reserve Bank should formally adopt standard operating procedures for the necessary measures within 4 weeks and issue a circular to all banks regarding the same.
Those guidelines should include a grievance redressal mechanism, a procedure for recovering money lost in fraud, and measures to create public awareness about these two actions.
Within 4 weeks...: All states and Union Territories should officially notify and operationalize State Cyber Crime Coordination Centres within 4 weeks.
After consulting with the Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, the states and Union Territory governments should adopt and implement the procedure of registering cases electronically at any police station, instead of the police station in the place where the crime occurred.
A committee comprising representatives from various departments should examine the establishment of a framework for providing compensation to victims.
Legal Services Authorities...: Legal Services Authorities should undertake initiatives to create awareness among the public across the country regarding digital arrest scams, cybercrime awareness, cybersecurity, and the methods available for recovering the defrauded amount.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Department of Telecommunications, and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre should examine a plan to impose time-based restrictions on voice and video calls.
The court ordered that the concerned officials file a brief report in the Supreme Court on the feasibility of implementing this plan, its benefits, and alternative measures. The next hearing in this case was adjourned to September.
