The Delhi High Court in the case Akshya And Anr. vs. Union Of India and Ors observed wherein the pubic interest litigation, PIL is moved on proliferation of cyber-crimes. The court stated that the policing system has to reform to gear up to new challenges and a simple complaint filing system must be adopted by the authorities for such cases.
The Division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora in the case was hearing the petition moved on the issue of increasing cyber-crimes and forging of court orders as well as fake FIRs and arrest warrants.
The petitioner in the plea contended before the court that the websites of Central as well as State Cyber Cell are inactive and do not post anything to increase awareness amongst people on the latest cyber-crimes happening in the country.
It was also submitted before the court that the cyber dost portal developed by the Union Government has not been updated since September 2022 and the website only contains certain articles which are not sufficient to update citizens about latest and ongoing modus operandi of fraudsters and those committing cyber-crimes.
Further, it has been submitted by the counsel before the court that the authorities must run awareness campaigns on the issue and the procedure of reporting cyber-crime complaints must be made simpler.
The court stated that prayers mentioned in the petition were different than what was being sought for in oral submissions.
The court while calling it an important issue stated that the prayers mentioned in the petition were different than what was being sought for in oral submissions.
The court also called them unworkable prayers, wherein the court asked the counsel appearing for the petitioner to amend the petition and incorporate the changes.
The said court also asked the counsel appearing for the Delhi Police to take instructions on having a simple digital facility for people to lodge cyber-crime complaints via emails
The court informed the Delhi Police’s counsel that suppose someone transmitted money. Thus, Money has to be blocked immediately and it cannot be done till you have a digital system in place. otherwise, money will cross boundaries of this country. You would not be able to reach it.
Adding to it, the court stated that that nowadays a lot of celebrities are complaining that they never made endorsements but the same are coming.
The court told the Dehi Police that it is the genuine problem of cyber-crimes today. You have to create special dedicated units…Policing system has to reform to gear up to new challenges. Policeman has to be well conversant with new computers.
The court while considering the facts and circumstances of the case observed and has asked the Central Government’s counsel to take instructions on having a unified system of checking the genuineness of orders passed by the authorities.
Accordingly, the court listed the matter for further consideration on January 30, 2024.
