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Journalism of Courage
CITING A “colossal increase in incidents of cyberfraud” across the country, the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA) has moved an application before the top court, seeking to be made a party and be allowed to assist the court in the pending suo motu case on digital arrests.
The SCAORA said “such incidents have escalated across the country, gravely undermining citizens’ right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution”. It said the “Ministry of Home Affairs on March 25, 2025, issued a press release which revealed a shocking figure of 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts used for digital arrest were identified and blocked by I4C (Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs)”. “Imperatively, till 28.02.2025, more than 7.81 lakh SIM cards and 2,08,469 IMEIs, as reported by the police authorities, have been blocked by the Government of India…”
The plea also said the Association’s president advocate Vipin Nair had received a representation from a member, 72, complaining that she was defrauded of nearly Rs 3.29 crore of her life earnings and despite some arrests being made, only Rs 13.5 lakh could be recovered. “The investigating agency reported jurisdictional hurdles, a lack of manpower, inter-state coordination issues and foreign-linked phone numbers as the causes of the delay, leaving the victim to run from pillar to post for compliance…” it said.
