Government Takes Action on Digital Arrest Scams
The Indian government has formed a high-level committee to address the growing menace of digital arrests. This move comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hear the matter today. The court had earlier expressed serious concern about cyber criminals impersonating law enforcement officials.
Multi-Agency Panel Established
The Centre has constituted an Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) headed by the special secretary for Internal Security at the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. This committee has been tasked with examining all aspects of digital arrests across the country. The government revealed this information in a status report submitted to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of complaints about digital arrest scams in November-December last year. At that time, the court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe these matters. During the last hearing on December 16, 2025, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked to be informed about inter-departmental consultations on the subject.
Committee Composition and Mandate
The IDC includes representatives from multiple key agencies:
- Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
- Department of Telecommunications (DoT)
- Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)
- Department of Financial Services (DFS)
- Ministry of Law & Justice (MoLJ)
- Ministry of Consumer Affairs (MoCA)
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
- Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
- National Investigation Agency (NIA)
- Delhi Police
- Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)
The CEO of I4C serves as the Member-Secretary of this committee. The panel has been directed to meet regularly to ensure timely and coordinated compliance with court directives.
Initial Deliberations and Challenges
The committee held its first meeting in December 2025. During this session, members conducted extensive deliberations on issues and recommendations submitted by Amicus Curiae Senior Advocate N S Nappinai. Representatives from DoT, MeitY, and RBI requested clarifications on certain recommendations from the amicus curiae.
A virtual meeting took place on January 2, 2026, with the amicus curiae and representatives from I4C, RBI, DoT, and MeitY. During this meeting, the amicus curiae clarified issues and recommendations pertaining to concerned stakeholders.
Following the initial meeting, all committee members were asked to submit written inputs on action points identified during deliberations. Minutes of the meeting have been circulated among members for submission of action taken reports.
Progress and Next Steps
After the IDC meeting, DoT and RBI submitted detailed inputs that require further committee deliberation. Inputs from other committee members are still pending. The government has requested at least one more month to obtain remaining inputs and undertake further deliberations.
MeitY convened another meeting with IT intermediaries on January 6, 2026. This meeting included participation from the amicus curiae and representatives from I4C, MHA, Department of Telecom, Google, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Microsoft.
The government aims to present a consolidated and considered outcome before the Supreme Court once all inputs are received and deliberations completed.
Digital arrest scams involve cyber fraudsters pretending to be law enforcement officials. They convince citizens they have been "arrested digitally" and then defraud them of substantial amounts of money. Recent cases have highlighted the severity of this problem, with some victims losing crores of rupees to these sophisticated scams.
