New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday termed the embezzlement of over Rs 54,000 crore through digital arrests as “robbery or fraud” and directed the Center to formulate standard operating procedures (SoPs) to deal with such crimes.A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and a bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria noted that the losses caused by digital fraud exceeded the annual budgets of several small states.According to PTI, “These violations may have occurred due to complicity or negligence on the part of bank officials. This requires prompt action by the RBI and banks.”The Supreme Court noted that the Reserve Bank of India has framed a standard operating procedure requiring banks to temporarily freeze debit cards to prevent cyber fraud. It directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to review the SoP of the Reserve Bank of India and similar protocols or decisions taken by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and draft a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) within four weeks to effectively address such crimes.The bench also directed the CBI to identify cases involving digital arrests and directed the Gujarat and Delhi governments to grant permission to the agency to probe the issues.Furthermore, the Supreme Court also asked the Reserve Bank of India, the Ministry of Transport and other stakeholders to convene a joint meeting to formulate a framework for compensating victims of digital arrest scams. Stressing the need for a “pragmatic and liberal approach” in awarding compensation, the court set the matter for further hearing in four weeks and asked the authorities to submit a fresh status report by the next date.Earlier, on December 16 last year, the bench had asked the Center to consider the recommendations of an amicus curiae to ensure compensation to the victims while expressing concern over the huge amount of money being diverted from the country by cybercriminals. On December 1, the Reserve Bank of India directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a unified pan-India probe into digital arrest cases and asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) why it was not using artificial intelligence to track and freeze bank accounts related to such crimes.Digital arrest is an emerging form of cybercrime in which scammers impersonate law enforcement officials, court authorities, or government personnel to intimidate victims through audio or video calls, hold them hostage, and force them to transfer funds.
