The Union government has informed the Supreme Court that it has constituted a high-level inter-departmental committee to “comprehensively examine all facets” of digital arrests in the country, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
The inter-departmental panel is headed by the special secretary (internal security) of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The committee has held three meetings of which the latest on January 6 was attended by representatives of online intermediary platforms such as Google, WhatsApp, Telegram and Microsoft.
While the first meeting was held in December, a second virtual discussion was held on January 2. It was attended by representatives of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, the Reserve Bank of India, the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the newspaper reported.
The Supreme Court was informed about the committee in a status report ahead of a hearing scheduled on Tuesday.
The multi-agency committee was formed after a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant on December 1 directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to crack down on “digital arrest” scammers, The Hindu reported.
In cases of “digital arrest”, criminals usually orchestrate the fraud by posing as law enforcement officers, often wearing uniforms and making video calls to victims from locations made to resemble government offices or police stations. They demand money for…
Source: Digital arrest scams: Centre tell SC it has formed multi-agency panel to tackle problem
