The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday said it needs to deal with digital arrest cases with an iron hand as it expressed shock over the scale of such cybercrime cases in the country, with over Rs 3,000 crore allegedly extorted from victims, including senior citizens. A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and Joymalya Bagchi, which appointed an amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter, perused two sealed cover reports submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
“It is shocking that over Rs 3,000 crore have been collected from the victims, including senior citizens, across the country. If we don’t pass stringent and harsh orders, this problem will magnify. We have to strengthen the hands of our agencies through judicial orders. We are determined to deal with these crimes with iron hands,” the bench observed.
The court posted the matter for hearing on November 10 and said that it will pass certain directions based on the suggestions from the amicus.
Justice Kant said that the CBI has pointed out that crime syndicates were being operated from offshore locations where they have “scam compounds” having financial, technical, and human pillars. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union Government and the CBI, said that the Ministry of Home Affairs’s cybercrime division is dealing with these issues.
The SC had taken cognisance of a letter written by an elderly woman from Haryana’s Ambala to Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, complaining that she and her husband were put under the so-called digital arrest on the basis of forged orders of the court and probe agencies by fraudsters, who extorted Rs 1.05 crore from them in September.
The woman said the court orders were shown through multiple audio and video calls by people impersonating CBI, ED, and judicial officers to arrest them. The top court was informed that two FIRs were lodged with the cybercrime department at Ambala under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhitya (BNS).
On October 27, the top court said it is inclined to entrust the CBI with the probe into digital arrest cases after taking into consideration the magnitude and pan-India spread of such crimes. It had sought details of FIRs registered in different states and union territories.
