Plea over 'new age' cyber crimes: Delhi HC gives Centre time to reply

New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Friday asked for Centre's reply on a PIL against "new age" cyber crimes such as "digital arrests".

A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhayaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela allowed the Centre four weeks' time and posted the hearing on March 19.

"Let a counter affidavit/reply be filed by the Union of India within four weeks. Rejoinder be filed within two weeks thereafter," it said.

Issuing notice, the high court in 2024 asked the Centre, Delhi government, Delhi Police and Reserve Bank of India to file their responses on the plea. The PIL sought directions to create awareness and simplify procedures to file complaints against cyber crimes.

The petitioners, advocates Akshya and Urvashi Bhatia, said the perpetrators of "mutating menace" of cyber crime were now employing "sophisticated tactics" to exploit the system by forging of court orders, including those of the Supreme Court, and FIRs and arrest warrants to extort "settlement money" from innocent unsuspecting citizens.

Their plea said one of the petitioners came across a "forged and fabricated" warrant of arrest, purportedly issued by a Delhi court, pursuant to a “digital arrest” cyber scam.

"The petition has been filed to bring to the notice of this court the issue of rapidly multiplying and mutating menace of cyber crime which has now taken an even perilous turn and emerged into the new kind of skullduggery, that is, ‘digital arrest’ scam which pose a greater severe threat and is of grave concern as these scams have now infiltrated into the very fabric of our criminal justice system, endangering its integrity and functionality,” it said.

It highlighted instances of impersonation of government and police officials by the criminals, which exploited the public's trust in institutions.

The plea claimed lack of coordination between various government authorities and sought guidelines for better coordination between the authorities for "swifter investigation" and to stop the transfer of the proceeds of crimes.

The court has said cyber crime was a genuine problem, which was troubling everyone and asked the authorities to consider increasing awareness among the public on the “important” issue.

It said the policing system had to be reformed and police should gear up to deal with the new challenges and keep abreast with new technology. PTI SKV AMK

Source: PTI