The Supreme Court on Friday took a serious note of the digital arrest of a senior citizen couple in Haryana’s Ambala by fraudsters to extort Rs 1.05 crore on the basis of forged orders of the court and investigating agencies.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi expressed concern over the rising cases of digital arrests across the country and sought response from the Center and the CBI in the case registered suo motu after the 73-year-old woman wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India BR Gavai.
The bench said that forging of Supreme Court, High Court orders and signatures of judges to digitally arrest innocent people, including senior citizens, hurts the trust and faith of the people in the judicial institutions.
The apex court said, “The creation of judicial orders bearing forged signatures of judges strikes at the foundation of public confidence in the judicial system apart from the rule of law. Such action is a direct attack on the dignity of the institution.”
The bench further said that such a serious criminal act cannot be treated as a common or single offense of fraud or cyber crime.
The bench said, “We wish to take judicial cognizance of the fact that this case is not an isolated case. It has been reported several times in the media that such crimes have been committed in different parts of the country. Therefore, we are of the view that there is a need for action and coordinated efforts between the Center and the State Police to expose the full extent of the criminal enterprise involving forgery of judicial documents, extortion/loot from innocent people, especially senior citizens.”
The bench sought assistance from the Attorney General and directed the Haryana government and the Ambala Cyber Crime Department to file a status report on the investigation conducted so far in the case of the senior citizen couple.
The matter was brought to the notice of the court by the complainant woman, who alleged that the scammers produced a forged court order with stamp and seal for the arrest and surveillance of the couple between September 3 and 16 to defraud more than Rs 1 crore through multiple bank transactions.
The woman said that to arrest her, people posing as CBI and ED officers showed the court orders through several audio and video calls. The apex court was told that two FIRs have been registered in the Cyber Crime Department, Ambala, under various provisions of the Indian Justice Code (BNS).
