New Delhi: Rising incidents of online fraud in the country, especially digital arrests to dupe citizens by fabricating judicial orders, have come under the scanner of the Supreme Court, which Friday sought responses of the Centre and the CBI, saying such offences strike at the very foundation of public trust in the system.
The top court took cognisance of a glaring case of digital arrest of a senior citizen couple in Haryana’s Ambala on the basis of forged orders of the court and probe agencies by fraudsters to extort Rs 1.05 crore.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said it is no ordinary crime where it could have asked the police to expedite the probe and take the case to its logical conclusion, but a matter where coordinated efforts between the central and state police are required to unearth the full extent of the criminal enterprise.
It flagged the rising number of digital arrest cases across the country and sought the response of the Centre and CBI in the case registered as suo motu after the 73-year-old woman wrote to Chief Justice of India B R Gavai September 21, informing about the incident of defrauding them using court orders.
The bench said forging apex court, high court orders, and signatures of judges to digitally arrest innocent people, including senior citizens, strikes at the bottom of the trust and faith of people in judicial institutions.
The fabrication of judicial orders bearing forged signatures of judges strikes at the very foundation of the public trust in the judicial system, besides the rule of law. Such action constituted a direct assault on the dignity of the institution, the top court said.
It said the forgery of documents and the criminal misuse of the name, seal and judicial orders of this court or high court is a matter of grave concern, and such a grave criminal act cannot be treated as an ordinary or solitary offence of cheating or cyber crime.
We are also inclined to take judicial notice of the fact that the instance case is not the sole instance. It has been widely reported many times in the media that such crimes have taken place in different parts of the country. We are, therefore, of the view that action and coordinated efforts between the central and state police are required to unearth the full extent of the criminal enterprise involving forging judicial documents, extortionrobbery of innocent people, most importantly the senior citizens, the bench said.
It sought the assistance of the Attorney General and directed the Haryana government and Ambala cybercrime department to file a status report on the probe done so far in the case of a senior citizen couple.
The matter was brought to the court’s notice by the complainant woman, who alleged that scamsters produced a forged court order with a stamp and seal for the arrest and surveillance of the couple between September 3 and 16 to defraud over Rs 1 crore through multiple bank transactions.
The woman said the court orders were shown through multiple audio and video calls by people impersonating as CBI, ED and judicial officers to arrest them.
The top court was informed that two FIRs were lodged with the cyber crime department at Ambala under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhitya (BNS).
