RANCHI: Jharkhand High Court has observed that an FIR must be lodged immediately after the incident of cyber fraud is reported to ensure that the hard-earned money of its victims can be refunded.
Hearing a PIL initiated after taking suo-moto cognizance on the reports of increasing incidents of cyber frauds in the state, the Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday also suggested the state government create a corpus fund to refund the money of the victims of cyber frauds.
The division bench of Justice S Chandrashekhar and Justice Anubha Rawat Chaudhary, taking suo-motu cognizance of increasing incidents of cyber fraud on November 10, had issued notices to the state government and the Indian Cyber Crime Control Coordination Center (ISCCCC) of the Union Home Ministry asking them to file an affidavit.
The division bench had also made the Home Secretary, IT Secretary, DG CID, SP CID, etc. as defendants in the case. During the hearing, the court also stressed on developing a mechanism on the lines of Gujarat, so that a refund of the money to the bank accounts of the victims of cyber fraud could be ensured.
As per government records, more than 5,000 cases of cyber fraud are reported in Jharkhand every year. The court was also of the view that there must be a provision so that the name and account number of the person in whose account the money of cyber fraud has been transferred to make it convenient for the police to trace them and seize their accounts immediately.
Earlier, Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan informed the court about the measures taken by the state government to check cyber crimes.
“As directed, CID (DG) Anurag Gupta and an ACP rank official appeared in the court on behalf of the state government and central government respectively, and submitted their affidavits. They explained the court about the measures taken by their respective governments to check cyber frauds,” said Advocate Piyush Chitresh appearing on behalf of the state government.
The matter will be taken up next on December 18, he said.