HC raps police for not acting on elderly woman's complaint of digital fraud

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday pulled up the city police for not acting with alacrity on an elderly womans 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 PTIA 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 PTISecuring money at the right time is far more important for the victims the Bombay High Court saidThe 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 lakhThe woman a retired teacher in her plea filed through advocate Nikhil Daga said the Shivaji Nagar police station in the citys suburban Govandi area did not even lodge a complaint when she approached it reported PTIDaga 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 probePublic 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 PTIVenegaonkar 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 cybercrime cellThe 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 lightlyEvery 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 guidelinescircular needs to be issued to all police stations on how to handle such cases the court said reported PTIPut 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 PTIThe court pulled up the police for not acting promptly when the petitioner approached with her complaintThe 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 PTIIt added that the police acted in the present case only after the woman filed the petition in the HCDoes 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 PTIYou 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 PTIThe bench permitted the petitioner to add the Reserve Bank of India RBI and three banks to which the petitioners money was transferred as respondents to the petitionThe court issued a notice to the added respondents and posted the matter for further hearing on April 22With inputs from PTI