Tackling the digital arrest phenomenon
Without specific laws defining digital arrest as a distinct offence with enhanced penalties, enforcement will continue to be reactive rather than preventive.
Updated At : 02:32 AM Dec 13, 2025 IST
ON December 1, 2025, the Supreme Courttook an unprecedented step: it handed over the investigation of digital arrest scams to the Central Bureau of Investigation with sweeping powers to probe not just the fraudsters but also the institutional complicity that enables them. Chief Justice Surya Kant's Bench didn't just order an investigation -I t effectively declared war on a cybercrime ecosystem that has duped Indians of over Rs 2,580 crore since 2022, with banks, telecom operators and law enforcement agencies all complicit through negligence, incompetence or worse.
