The Bombay High Court on Wednesday pulled up the city police for not acting with “alacrity” on an elderly woman`s complaint of her digital arrest in which she lost Rs 32 lakh to scamsters, and asked the cops to put their house in order, reported news agency PTI.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale said in cases of digital and cyber fraud, time is of the essence and it was the duty of the police to take prompt action to ensure that more money is not lost to the persons committing the fraud, reported PTI.
Securing money at the right time is far more important for the victims, the Bombay High Court said.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by a septuagenarian woman who claimed that she was kept in digital arrest during which she was duped of Rs 32 lakh.
The woman, a retired teacher, in her plea filed through advocate Nikhil Daga, said the Shivaji Nagar police station in the city`s suburban Govandi area did not even lodge a complaint when she approached it, reported PTI.
Daga on Wednesday told the court that when the woman approached the police, she was still in digital arrest and was in touch with the accused persons. The police, however, refused to lodge her complaint, claiming that they had bigger scams to probe.
Public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar told the court that the case has now been transferred to the cyber crime cell of the city police and two persons have been arrested but no money has been recovered yet, reported PTI.
Venegaonkar said henceforth if any person approaches a police station with a digital fraud complaint then the said police station would be directed to lodge a zero FIR and forward the same to the cyber-crime cell.
The Bombay High Court said stern action is also required to be taken against the errant police officers of the Shivaji Nagar police station so that a message is sent out to all police stations to not take such complaints lightly.
“Every day some or the other vulnerable senior citizen falls victim to such scams. We will take this present matter as a test case and take it to its logical conclusion. Some guidelines/circular needs to be issued to all police stations on how to handle such cases,” the court said, reported PTI.
“Put your house in order,” Justice Dere said, urging for awareness to be created among the general public so that they should not fall prey to such frauds and in case they do then what steps they need to take to secure their money, the bench added, reported PTI.
The court pulled up the police for not acting promptly when the petitioner approached with her complaint.
“The police should have acted with alacrity. What was the police doing? All the money is gone. If they (police) had acted with alacrity then the accused could have been nabbed as the scam was being done. The police missed the golden opportunity to nab them then itself,” the Bombay High Court said, reported PTI.
It added that the police acted in the present case only after the woman filed the petition in the HC.
“Does a common man have to come to the court every time? This particular petitioner had the means so she moved the high court, but what about the several others who end up running from pillar to post. We are concerned about all those people too,” the bench said, reported PTI.
“You (police) have to help people. That is your duty and role. The first step for a victim is to go to the police and not come to court. So, police must ensure prompt help,” it said, reported PTI.
The bench permitted the petitioner to add the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and three banks to which the petitioner`s money was transferred as respondents to the petition.
The court issued a notice to the added respondents and posted the matter for further hearing on April 22.
(With inputs from PTI)
