SC to hear petition for expert committee to combat cyber fraud

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to establish an expert committee overseen by the sitting or retired judges of the apex court to examine potential measures in order to control cyber fraud the ANI reportedAccording to ANI the petition filed by advocate Pradeep Kumar Yadav cited various incidents where the judges themselves were allegedly the victims of cyber crimeAccording to a news article mentioned in the petition retired Chief Justice of India RM Lodha was defrauded of Rs 1 lakh in 2019 after retrieving emails from a different senior Supreme Court judges account requesting emergency fundsAnother incident mentioned in the petition was when a scammer posing as the current Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud wrote that he was heading for an important meeting at Collegium but was stuck in Connaught Place and was in need of Rs 500 and promised to return that money ANI reportedThe petition also stated that another incident that occurred earlier this month when a cybercrime gang posed as officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI staged a false virtual courtroom with documents closely resembling original ones and one of them impersonating the CJI duped Vardhman Group head SP Oswal of Rs 7 croreThe petition further stated that Ramesh Devkinandan Dhanuka retired Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court had lodged an FIR in 2023 with the Colaba police saying that an unidentified person sent him a message asking to update his pan card details and upon opening the link and submitting the details Rs 49998 was drawn out of his bank accountIn 2023 another cyber fraud came to light for misusing the identity of Karnataka High Court judge Justice G NarendraThe petitioner claimed that because he was getting calls from several mobile numbers and was getting OTPs from scammers he was going to become a victim of cyber fraud A criminal complaint was filed in this regard at the Tilak Marg police station on August 16 2024In the plea a suitable framework to address the legal voids and widespread concerns raised by Indias relentless surge in cybercrime was requestedThe PIL said In todays interconnected digital landscape the prevalence of cybercrime has reached unprecedented levels posing significant threats to individuals businesses and nations alike As technology advances so do the tactics employed by the cybercriminals ranging from sophisticated hacking and ransomware attacks to identify theft and online fraudThe National Crime Records Bureau NCRB reports that from 21796 occurrences in 2017 to 27248 incidents in 2018 there was a notable increase in cybercrime cases In response to this trend the NCRB began categorising crimes against women and children separately starting in 2017 noted the petitionThere needs to be an we have a legal framework in the name of Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 which needs to be strengthened by expanding the definitions of cybercrimes and enhancing the legal framework for cybersecurity This should hold intermediaries responsible for content and data hosted on their platforms compelling them to adhere to stringent data protection measures the petition saidThe central government through the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India are made party in the petition ANI reportedWith inputs from ANI