SC orders Centre to draft standard operating procedure for ‘digital arrest’ cases, calls them ‘dacoity’

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Centre to draft a standard operating procedure (SOP) to handle ‘digital arrest’ cases in consultation with stakeholders like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks, and Telecommunications Department, according to PTI.

The SC noted that Rs 54,000 crore have been siphoned off in digital arrests so far and dubbed such cases as acts of “robbery or dacoity”. It noted that the amount siphoned off by digital fraud is more than the budgets of many small states.

In a suo motto case, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to consider the SOP of the RBI and similar SOP or decisions of the Department of Telecom (DoT) and come up with a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) in four weeks to effectively deal with such offences.

The SC noted that the RBI has crafted an SOP prescribing action by the banks to temporarily hold debit cards to prevent cyber-enabled fraud.

Digital arrests refer to cybercrimes in which fraudsters pose as law enforcement officers or officials from government agencies like the Income Tax Department or vigilance bureau and intimidate people through audio and video calls. They try to convince people that they or their family members have committed a crime and need to pay hefty fines as a result. Until payments are made, fraudster hold people hostage virtually and blackmail with consequences.

The SC further directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to identify digital arrest cases and asked the Gujarat and Delhi governments to accord sanction to the federal probe agency to proceed with the investigations in the identified digital arrest cases.

The Supreme Court also asked the RBI, the DoT, and others to jointly hold a meeting to come up with a framework for providing compensation in digital arrest cases. The CJI-headed bench said a pragmatic and liberal approach is needed to deal with the award of compensation to digital arrest victims and posted the plea for a further hearing after four weeks. It further ordered the authorities to file fresh status reports before the next date of hearing.

Previously, on December 1, the SC had asked the CBI to carry out a unified pan-India investigation into digital arrest cases and asked the RBI why it is not using artificial intelligence (AI) to trace and freeze bank accounts used by cyber criminals.