Digital Arrest In India: Rethinking Criminal Liability & Legal Remedies For Emerging Cyber Fraud
- IJLLR Journal
- 4 days ago
- 1 min read
Kritika Bhalla, Ideal Institute of Management and Technology (GGSIPU)
ABSTRACT
The phenomenon popularly termed ‘digital arrest’ a species of cyber-enabled extortion in which fraudsters impersonate law-enforcement or judicial authorities over video calls to coerce victims into transferring money under threat of confinement has emerged as one of the most significant criminal- justice challenges of India’s digital decade. Though the expression has no statutory foundation, its architecture of coercion, surveillance and induced fear engages the constitutional guarantees of personal liberty, privacy and dignity under Article 21 as squarely as any physical detention. This paper undertakes a doctrinal and critical examination of digital arrest fraud through the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the recently enacted Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. It critically analyses judgments of Indian constitutional courts. In particular, the paper rethinks the criminal- liability framework governing digital arrest fraud, addressing the graduated culpability of distributed syndicates, the mens rea threshold for mule-account holders, and the responsibility of banking, telecommunications and platform enablers, and it evaluates the adequacy of the victim's remedial and restitutionary options. It concludes with legislative, institutional and judicial recommendations aimed at reconciling technological governance with constitutional guarantees, drawing on comparative international cyber- governance principles.
Keywords: Digital Arrest; Right to Privacy; Information Technology Act, 2000; Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
