New Delhi, 20 April (H.S.):

The Supreme Court on Monday expressed serious concern over the growing number of “digital arrest” cases in the country. During the hearing, Chief Justice Surya Kant said it was shocking that even the most educated people were falling prey to such digital frauds.

Counsel for the petitioner argued that intermediary platforms should have a “kill switch” to tackle the problem, as victims often panic even when they understand they are being subjected to a digital arrest and are unable to react.

Attorney General R. Venkataramani informed the court that an internal meeting among the concerned departments had already been held and that the final meeting would be conducted soon. He suggested that the next hearing could be listed for May 12.

Earlier, on December 1, 2025, the Supreme Court had said that digital arrest fraud required immediate attention. It had ordered a CBI probe into the registered cases linked to the scam and said the agency would have full freedom to investigate bankers wherever bank accounts used in cybercrime were traced.

The court had also directed the Reserve Bank of India to assist it in determining whether artificial intelligence or machine learning could be used to identify suspicious accounts and freeze them. States that had not granted permission for CBI investigations within their territories were directed to allow such probes in digital arrest cases.

The amicus curiae had said there were three broad categories of cybercrime: digital arrest, investment fraud, and fake part-time job scams. The court had noted that through such offences, victims are often lured into investing large sums of money.

On October 17, 2025, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the rising incidents of digital arrest and issued notices to the Centre and the CBI. It had observed that forging Supreme Court and High Court orders, along with judges’ signatures, to carry out digital arrest scams was an attack on public trust in judicial institutions.

The court had taken note of a case involving an elderly couple from Ambala who were digitally “arrested” and cheated out of more than Rs 1 crore. The couple had written to the then Chief Justice B. R. Gavai about the fraud. The court said this was not an isolated incident and that several media reports had already highlighted similar cases. It said coordination between central and state police was necessary to expose such criminal acts involving forged judicial documents, extortion and robbery, especially against innocent people and senior citizens.

According to the couple’s letter, a forged court order bearing a seal and claiming their arrest and surveillance between September 3 and September 16 was shown to them. After that, they were defrauded of more than Rs 1 crore through multiple bank transactions. The elderly woman said some individuals had displayed the court orders through audio and video calls.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar