Adopt simple process of filing complaints for cybercrimes: HC to authorities

The Delhi High Court Tuesday suggested that authorities adopt a simple process of filing complaints for cybercrime cases increase awareness among people on the important issue among other steps to check its menaceldquoCybercrime is a genuine problem that is troubling everyonerdquo the Delhi High Court stressedThe high court said the policing system has to be reformed and police have to gear up to deal with these new challenges and be updated with new technology newswire PTI reportedIt observed that scamsters do not discriminate among their targets and they do not care whether it is a lawyer judge businessman or any other person They just make indiscriminate calls and commit fraud with peopleA bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora said ldquoCybercrime is a genuine problem today Everyone is getting troubled This is something unique happening now We dont know what the authorities can do about this Only awareness can work Awareness is neededrdquoThe high court was hearing a public interest litigation PIL on the issue of increasing cybercrime cases and forging of court orders including those of the Supreme Court as well as FIRs and arrest warrants to extort settlement money from innocent unsuspecting citizensldquoThe petition has been filed to bring to the notice of this court the issue of rapidly multiplying and mutating menace of cybercrime which has now taken an even perilous turn and emerged into the new kind of skullduggery that is digital arrest scam which poses a greater severe threat said the plea filed by lawyer Akshya and Urvashi BhatiaIt 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 saidThe petitioners claimed that websites of central as well as state cyber cells are inactive and do not post anything to increase awareness amongst people on the latest cybercrimes happening in the countryThey further submitted that authorities must run awareness campaigns on the issue and the procedure of reporting cybercrime complaints must be made simplerThe high court however said the prayers mentioned in the plea were different from what was being sought in oral submissions and asked the petitioners to amend their pleaThe high court which listed the matter for further hearing on January 30 asked the Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi and lawyer Arun Panwar appearing for Delhi Police to take instructions on having a simple digital facility for people to lodge cybercrime complaints via emailsTripathi submitted that a centralised number 1089 is already there and people can lodge complaints on itThe bench however said the numbers are generally not functional and digital facilities should be made availableldquoSuppose someone succeeds in transmitting money Money has to be blocked immediately It cannot be done till you have a digital system in place Otherwise money will cross the boundaries of this country You wont be able to reach itrdquo the court told the polices counselldquoEven if the money is given through banks it will go out of the country in 15 minutes I think they petitioners are giving good suggestions One is to create awareness and the other is to have a simple mechanism to lodge complaintsrdquo Justice Manmohan saidThe court also mentioned that nowadays a lot of celebrities are complaining that they never made endorsements but the same are still comingIt also asked the counsel for the central government to take instructions on having a unified system of checking the genuineness of orders passed by authoritiesThe grave concern is the audacious impersonation of government authorities and police officers by these cyber criminals the court saidBy assuming false identities they are not only exploiting the trust placed in these institutions but also eroding public confidence in the criminal justice systemThis not only undermines the credibility of the system but also poses a direct threat to the safety and wellbeing of innocent citizensrdquo it said With inputs from PTI