Digital arrest scam: SC restrains grant of bail to persons accused of duping 73-year-old woman AoR

NEW DELHI: In the suo motu case of digital arrest scams, the Supreme Court on Monday, in an unusual and rare decision, restrained the release from jail of the persons accused of duping a 73-year-old woman Advocate-on-Record. It was pointed out to the court that the accused in the woman AoR's case might be released soon, as the 90-day period is about to expire, then the bench passed its order restraining the accused's release. The top court's two-judge bench, headed by Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, passed the restraining order before taking a strict view of the incident. The Court importantly directed that the accused will not be granted bail by any Court during the pendency of the investigation and subject to further orders, and fixed the matter for further hearing on Monday, November 24, the day Justice Kant will become the 53rd CJI. During the hearing on Monday, AoR (Advocate On Record) and lawyer, Vipin Nair mentioned SCAORA's (Supreme Court's Advocate on Record's Association) intervention in the case, by filing an application, as he argued that how badly the woman AoR faced harassment. Echoing similar voices with Nair, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta supported SCAORA's intervention, saying he personally interacted with the woman AoR when she faced the ordeal. Hearing these submissions from Nair and Mehta, the bench allowed SCAORA's intervention application. The top court was hearing the suo motu case involving victims of digital arrests related to forged documents. Talking to TNIE , Nair said that SCAORA has been permitted to assist the Court on the next date of hearing. In the Suo moto Digital arrest matter, Justice Kant and Justice Bagchi on Monday allowed the intervention application filed by SCAORA espousing the case of a senior lady AOR, who was duped of Rs. 3.29 crores, Nair told TNIE. The court had earlier, in one of its hearings, called for harsh and stringent action to be taken to control cyber frauds, particularly digital arrest scams, adding that it will deal with this issue with iron hands. The court had earlier, in its last hearing on October 27, widened the ambit of the issue of digital arrest cases, as it had issued notices to all the states and Union Territories in the matter relating to these kinds of frauds across the country. On October 17, the court took suo motu cognisance of the issue after hearing a complaint by a senior citizen couple who had been defrauded of their life savings through a digital arrest scam last week. Earlier, the court had said, The fabrication of judicial orders bearing forged signatures of the judges strikes at the very foundation of the public trust in the judicial system, besides the rule of law. Such action constituted a direct assault on the dignity of the institution. Such a grave criminal act cannot be treated as an ordinary or routine offence of cheating or cyber crime. The top court also sought the assistance of the Attorney General (AG) for India, R Venkataramani, in the issue. It highlighted that the fabrication of judicial orders bearing forged signatures of the judges strikes at the very foundation of the public trust in the judicial system, besides the rule of law. Expressing its displeasure over such kind of offences, the apex court had said, such kind of action constituted direct assault on the dignity of the institution. The apex court also had earlier stressed that there must be a coordinated effort between the central and state police and other authorities to unearth the full extent of the enterprise involving forging judicial documents, extortion, robbery of innocent people, most importantly, the senior citizens. In the complaint, the 73-year-old woman from Ambala in Haryana alleged that scammers illegally forged Supreme Court orders to confine her in a digital arrest and extort more than Rs 1 crore. She claimed that the fraudsters produced a fake judicial order purportedly issued by the Supreme Court judge and forcing her to surrender and succumb to the demands of the scamsters. After going through the complaint of the woman, the top court issued notice to Union of India (UOI) through the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the CBI through its Director, Principal Secretary Department of Home, SP Cyber Crime at Ambala. Noting that the issue was serious, the top court also asked the Haryana government and SP cyber crime Ambala to file the status report of the investigation taken place so far.