The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday observed that cyber thugs are hollowing out the entire country like termites. The economic condition of the country is deteriorating. Accountability should be fixed so that the money looted by cyber thugs is not lost.
The High Court has sought a response by issuing notices to the Central and State Governments and the Reserve Bank of India in this matter, regarding how the hard earned money of honest poor citizens should be protected from cyber fraud. The court said that the responsibility of the bank and the police should be fixed.
Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav has given this order while hearing the application of Neeraj Mandal alias Rakesh.
By order of the High court dated 15-7-2021, it was summoned to S.P.Crime Allahabad and Cyber Police Inspector to inquire about cyber fraud of more than one lakh in the state and Prayagraj. And how many cases of cyber fraud are registered below one lakh and what is its progress report.
The court observed that the affidavits of the officers are not satisfactory. It seems that both the bank and the police are not serious. Proper efforts were not made to prevent fraud. The life capital of the people was looted. They are told that the fraud took place from a remote area. Even the police are afraid to go to the Naxal area. Refunds like this are difficult. People sit blaming fate. Cyber criminals take advantage of the slowness of banks and police.
The High Court said that when even the judge is not safe, then what should be said about the common man. The state government should stop cheating and fix the accountability of the bank and the police.
The Court was hearing a case related to cyber fraud in which cyber thugs withdrew lakhs of rupees through phone from the bank account of a retired High Court judge. During the investigation, the accused was arrested and it was told by him that he has a gang of cyber thugs , through which he talks to people with fake mobile sims, knowing their bank details and withdraws the entire money from the bank customer’s account. Such work is being done through cyber fraud all over the country.
Considering the gravity of the matter, the court felt that the citizen of the country by keeping his money in the bank for the security of his hard earned money was sure that his money would be safe in the bank and if required whether it be for child’s education, wife’s treatment. Or if the daughter gets married, if need be, he will fulfill his requirement by withdrawing the money deposited in the bank, but when he comes to know that his hard earned money has been robbed by cyber fraud, then his land slips and his whole aspirations get watered again.
During the hearing of the case the High Court said that it becomes a situation of life and death, it is only a matter of the poor who deposit money in the bank. It is also the resolve of the Prime Minister of the country that everyone should have a bank account in which the middlemen cannot get the money of the poor given by the government. The court does not talk about those rich and white collar who do not keep their black money in the bank and weaken the economic condition of the country by keeping it with themselves. The court is talking only about those honest citizens who keep their money in the bank and strengthen the economic condition of the government and the country and take them on the path of development.
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The Court went on to state that the irony is that the money of the poor is not safe even in the bank and there thieves throw money from their account, then what should the poor do, it is a matter of thinking that the money deposited in the bank of the poor will have to be guaranteed and Responsibility has to be fixed. In such a situation, the court is interested to know how it can be decided that the money withdrawn through cyber fraud should be returned and if it is not returned then on whom should the responsibility of paying it be fixed on the concerned bank or on the concerned police officer conducting the investigation.
“Somewhere it has to be decided because this disease is making the whole look hollow and is getting poorer and poorer. It will not help to say that this is a case of cyber fraud. Criminals do not get caught and the customers themselves should be smart. The vast majority of the country’s population is less educated and less intelligent, while cyber fraudsters are educated and very clever, in whose guise, well-educated innocent citizens are trapped”, the order reads.
The next hearing of the Petition will take place on September 14.