Early Times Report
New Delhi, Aug 30: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said the Indian judiciary has proactively responded to emerging fraudulent schemes such as digital arrest scams rather than waiting for Parliament to address them.
In his closing address at the 43rd International Symposium on Economic Crime in London, the CJI said the Supreme Court had recently taken suo motu cognisance of the “digital arrest” scam, in which fraudsters impersonate police officers, judicial officials, or bureaucrats over video calls to dupe citizens.
“In response, the court has directed the Union and the states to evaluate the extent of this problem and has called for the establishment of a distinct offence, with penalties proportionate to the harm inflicted,” he said.
“This exemplifies a broader pattern: an Indian Judiciary that proactively responds to emerging fraudulent schemes, rather than waiting for Parliament to address them,” the CJI said.
He said when one looks at India’s modern response to economic crime, it is best understood not as a single statute but as a layered architecture, built deliberately over successive decades, in which legislation, institutions and judicial doctrine are each made to do distinct work.
The CJI referred to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.
“I must note that these are not infallible mechanisms. Numerous individuals have alleged misuse of the PMLA process by investigating authorities, including claims of arrests made without articulated reasons, and of custody extended beyond what the existing facts appear to justify. In each such instance, the judiciary has intervened to rectify the situation,” he said.
Justice Kant referred to the apex court’s verdict holding that grounds for arrest must be provided to the accused in writing, rather than merely read aloud.
“Furthermore, in Arvind Kejriwal versus Central Bureau of Investigation, a decision I had the opportunity to author, the court upheld the legality of the arrest but nonetheless granted bail, based on the principle that prolonged pre-trial detention should not be transformed into punishment under a different guise,” he said.
The CJI said what had remained consistent through the decades, despite legal and technological developments, was the apex court’s insistence that due process, proportionality and the presumption of innocence remain the guiding principles of its jurisprudence.
Referring to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, the CJI said it runs alongside criminal proceedings and the Indian justice delivery system has grown increasingly comfortable authorising parallel civil recovery even where a criminal trial remains protracted. |
