Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court issued a fresh set of nationwide directions to strengthen the institutional response against the growing menace of “digital arrest” scams. These include directing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to frame a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on mule accounts within four weeks and asking all states and Union Territories (UTs) to operationalise cyber fraud grievance redressal.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana passed the directions after taking on record the fourth status report filed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs, on the steps taken by various ministries, regulators, investigating agencies, telecom service providers and intermediaries pursuant to the apex court’s earlier orders.
The top court also directed the Centre’s Inter-Departmental Committee to examine a shared liability and victim compensation framework for victims of digital arrest scams, while asking states to notify and operationalise their State Cyber Crime Coordination Centres within four weeks and adopt the e-Zero FIR mechanism in consultation with I4C.
“The Reserve Bank of India shall, within four weeks, prepare and circulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for dealing with mule accounts/accounts linked to money laundering activity and cyber-enabled fraud,” the CJI-led Bench ordered, adding that a copy of the final SOP should also be furnished to the Registrar General of every High Court.
