SC suggests defining digital arrest as standalone offence with harsher punishment

The Supreme Court suggested that the Centre consider defining digital arrest as a standalone criminal offence with stricter penalties. The court also proposed asset freezing against accused persons and flagged the growing threat of deepfakes and cyber fraud

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the Centre may consider formally defining digital arrest in criminal law and declaring it as a standalone offence with harsher punishments. Digital arrest is a growing form of cybercrime in which fraudsters pose as law-enforcement officers, court officials or personnel from government agencies to intimidate victims through audio and video calls. They hold the victims hostage and put pressure on them to pay money.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said once a prima facie opinion is drawn against an accused in such cases on the basis of reasoned evidence, his assets could be frozen.

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Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani said digital arrests as an offence is already defined in the statute and informed the court that an Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) was in the process of finalising a comprehensive report to identify the gaps in the system.

“You may need to formally define ‘digital arrests’ in penal laws? It also has elements of extortion, robbery. Perhaps, you need to define this as a standalone offence with serious consequences, along with a provision that when something is found against an accused, his assets could be frozen,” CJI Kant suggested.

Justice Bagchi also flagged the menace of deepfakes and called for legislative intervention to define such emerging online crimes. “We now have deepfakes. It can be used for cheating and impersonation. You fight with the given tooth, but you need to chisel it as well. Under Article 142, we cannot define a crime,” the judge said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the government was working on a law to address deepfakes and digital arrests. “There is a draft bill which is coming up. Possibly it will take care of digital arrests, deepfakes etc and other online crimes,” Mehta said. Venkataramani further said that the CBI is already investigating around 20 major digital fraud cases involving losses of Rs 10 crore and above, while remaining cases were probed by the state police.

Seeking several security measures, the AG said certain directions are needed in the matter, like a direction to the RBI to formally adopt and implement the standard operating procedure (SOP) prescribing the action to be taken by banks for temporarily placing debit on hold for accounts suspected to be mule accounts used in cyberfrauds. It sought directions to all states, Union Territories and law enforcement agencies for the expeditious operationalisation of the grievance redress module and the money restoration module, and for the prompt disposal of matters relating to the freezing of bank accounts arising out of cyber-enabled financial fraud.

The bench said it would pass directions on Wednesday. Earlier, in a bid to crack down on the rising menace of “digital arrests”, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had informed the apex court that it has constituted a high-level inter-departmental committee (IDC) to eliminate systemic gaps and ensure real-time protection for cybercrime victims.

On December 16, 2025, the top court ordered inter-departmental ministerial consultations under the guidance of the AG on the issue and apprised it of the outcome.

The status report filed by the MHA on January 12 detailed a multi-agency offensive involving the CBI, RBI, Telecom Department and top IT ministries to dismantle transnational syndicates using forged documents and “digital arrest” tactics to siphon funds from innocent citizens.

Acting on the directions of the bench, the report said the CBI has officially taken over the investigation into a high-profile fraud case of Delhi where the victim, a 76-year-old widowed pensioner, was allegedly duped of Rs 1.64 crore through a “digital arrest” scam where she was threatened by impersonators using fake documents.

The CBI informed the court that these scams are often perpetrated by “organised and transnational cybercrime syndicates” and that the agency is now utilising INTERPOL channels to dismantle international modules. The MHA has established an IDC under the chairmanship of the special secretary (internal security).