Nainital, Sep 4 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court Thursday directed the Reserve Bank of India, telecom companies, the Union communications ministry and private banks operating in the state to file their responses within three weeks in a 'digital arrest' fraud case.

Converting the petition of Haridwar resident Surendra Kumar into a PIL regarding the 'digital arrest' fraud, a division bench of Chief Justice Justice G Narendra and Justice Subhash Upadhyay scheduled the next hearing in the matter after three weeks.

The bench directed that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) or prescribed measures to curb cybercrime be circulated to every police station.

During the previous hearing on August 27, the court had asked the petitioner to implead the RBI and banks as parties. Accepting them as respondents, the court issued notices and sought their replies.

On Thursday, IG Law and Order Nilesh Anand Bharne and SSP Cyber Crime Navneet Bhullar appeared before the court through video conferencing.

They informed the court that the department had already issued an SOP to prevent cybercrime. The court instructed that this SOP must be circulated to all police stations in the state and that awareness campaigns should also be run so that the general public does not fall victim to fraudulent calls and messages. In his plea, Kumar stated that about a month ago, he received calls from two different phone numbers. The callers claimed that a non-bailable warrant had been issued against him by the court of the Additional District Judge, Dehradun, and demanded an immediate payment of Rs 30,000.

To facilitate this, they even provided five separate QR codes in the name of the District judge.

Kumar reported this to Haridwar police, but since no action was taken, he approached the high court.

Taking note of the rising incidents of 'digital arrest' scams through fraudulent phone calls, the court decided to hear this matter as a public interest litigation. PTI DPT ZMN

Digital arrest fraud: court orders RBI, telecoms and banks to respond and mandates SOP circulation and public awareness. The court converted a petition into a public interest litigation regarding digital arrest scams and directed the Reserve Bank of India, telecom companies, the Union communications ministry and private banks to file responses within three weeks. It ordered circulation of the Standard Operating Procedure and anti-cybercrime measures to every police station and mandated public awareness campaigns to prevent fraudulent impersonation calls and QR-code payment solicitations.