The top court noted that the RBI has already crafted a Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) directing banks to temporarily block debit cards and take immediate preventive steps once digital fraud is detected.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other banks to take timely action in the cases of digital arrests. Describing the siphoning of over Rs 54,000 crore by digital frauds as absolute “robbery or dacoity”, the top court said that such incidents couldn’t have occurred without possible collusion or negligence on the part of bank officials. The court also asked the Centre to draft a standard operating procedure, in consultation with stakeholders such as the RBI, banks, and the Department of Telecommunications, to address such cases.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria observed that the amount siphoned off by digital fraud is more than the budgets of many small states.
Issues fresh directions
Issuing a slew of fresh directions, it asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to consider the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) of the Reserve Bank of India and similar SoP or decisions of the Department of Telecom (DoT) and come up with a draft MoU in four weeks to effectively deal with such offences.
The bench directed the 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.
Liberal approach needed
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. It 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 asked the authorities to file fresh status reports before the next date of hearing.
On December 16, the bench asked the Centre to look into the suggestions put forward by the amicus curiae in ensuring compensation to victims of digital arrests, while voicing its concern over the enormous amounts taken out from the country by cyber criminals.
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