SC says harsh, stringent action needed to deal with incidents of cyber crime, digital arrest scams

The Supreme Court on Monday called for harsh and stringent action to deal with cyber frauds, particularly digital arrest scams, and said it will address the issue with an ‘iron hand’.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi expressed shock after being informed that nearly Rs 3,000 crore has been extorted from people through such scams.

“It’s shocking that almost Rs 3,000 crore has been collected from the victims, and this is just in our country. If we don’t pass harsh and stringent orders, the problem will magnify. We will deal with this with iron hands,” remarked Justice Kant.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and CBI submitted a sealed cover report before the bench.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that a separate unit in the MHA was dealing with the issue, and se