NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday fumed over rising digital arrest cases and expressed shock over how educated people were getting “arrested on mobile phones” despite public awareness campaigns, news reports and court orders.“What is wrong with these victims? How are these victims being trapped like this? They can’t understand this basic thing? What’s the fear of arrest on mobile?” CJI Surya Kant asked while hearing a suo motu case.“Hit the mobile on the wall and arrest goes. Something is wrong with people. God knows what is there. What kind of person are you in a democratic country if you think you are getting arrested on mobile?” Surya Kant remarked orally.This comes after the amicus curiae in the case, NS Nappinai, said that she keeps receiving repeated inputs that while much was being done to stop digital arrests, the problem continues unabated.She told the court that a woman lost Rs 2.5 crore last week in such an incident.“They can’t understand this basic thing? What’s the fear of arrest on mobile? Hit the mobile on the wall and arrest goes. Something is wrong with people. God knows what is there. You are victimising yourself,” the CJI retorted.“We feel frustrated that all educated people are getting duped. What will you pass on to the next generation if you get digitally arrested at this age? People can go to the court’s website to find if there’s an order,” the CJI added.‘Banks must act as a protective umbrella’During the hearing, the apex court also said that banks must be held accountable for compensating victims of digital arrest scams, stressing that they should act as a “protective umbrella” for customers vulnerable to such fraud.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana questioned why unusually large withdrawals from a retired person’s bank account could not trigger timely intervention to prevent the loss.The top court said it was considering directions requiring banks to compensate victims and face prosecution where digital arrest fraud occurred due to their failure to exercise due diligence.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
“We are proposing to direct that wherever such fraud takes place, the bank will compensate the victim and suffer prosecution. It has to be done,” the CJI said.Observing that banks must be made accountable to indemnify losses of victims of digital fraud, the bench said that victims of offences like digital arrests should receive compensation of at least the amount lost if the fraud is found to have resulted from a failure of due diligence by the financial institution.
