New Delhi: The digital arrest scam is growing at an alarming rate in India, and even the Supreme Court is extremely concerned.
After being informed by the Centre that an estimated Rs 3,000 crore had been collected from Indian citizens, mostly elderly persons, the top court said on Monday that digital arrest fraud needs to be dealt with an “iron hand”.
“It’s shocking that almost Rs 3,000 crores have been collected from victims in our country alone. If we ignore this problem or cow down now and don’t pass stringent orders, the problem will magnify. We are determined to deal with this problem with an iron hand,” said a bench headed by justice Surya Kant.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted a report in a sealed cover in a suo motu case taken up by the court after receiving a letter from an elderly couple in Ambala who were robbed of over Rs 1 crore.
The top court appointed senior advocate NS Nappinai as amicus curiae and fixed November 10 as the date for next hearing.
“The problem seems to be more than what we thought. It is shocking that an amount of Rs 3,000 crore has been collected from the victims. This data is just of our country and we don’t know what the position is globally,” said a bench headed by justice Surya Kant after going through the reports of CBI and MHA.
“If we ignore this problem or cow down now and don’t pass stringent orders, the problem will magnify. We are determined to deal with this problem with an iron hand,” opined the bench also comprising justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Joymalya Bagchi.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, said that the MHA has a dedicated unit which is coordinating such cases of digital arrest fraud.
The amicus curiae seeking her suggestions on the same. “Some of the suggestions given by them were salutary and very positive that did not cross our minds. Some of the issues highlighted in the report are extremely important,” the bench said.
The apex court informed that several letters similar to the one received in September from the Ambala couple were written to the court in the past by affected victims. The court directed those letters to be shared with the SG and the amicus.
On October 27, Supreme Court had directed all states and UTs to provide information about the number of digital arrest cases and hinted at transferring all cases across India to one agency such as the CBI.