Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has called for a victim-centric approach to the rising threat of cybercrime, saying victims of cyber fraud are often retired persons and senior citizens who lose life savings built over decades.
Speaking at the 22nd D.P. Kohli Memorial Lecture organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation on “Challenges of Cyber Crime: Role of Police and Judiciary,” he said recurring forms of cybercrime, including so-called digital arrests, continue to confront the CBI, the police and the judiciary.
Cyber Fraud as a Crime Against Human Dignity
The Chief Justice said cyber fraud reveals a deeply unsettling reality because it is often preceded by careful harvesting of personal information, behavioural patterns and financial habits. This, he said, is followed by profiling of the victim, who often remains silent because of embarrassment, hesitation or stigma.
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In that context, he described cyber fraud not merely as an economic offence but as a crime against human dignity, saying it strips individuals of their agency and turns everyday digital interactions, including banking, communication and social engagement, into sites of vulnerability. In an increasingly digital society, he said, that vulnerability is universal rather than marginal.
Structured Networks and Trafficked Operators
CJI Kant said the cybercrime ecosystem can be traced to organised scam compounds spread across parts of Southeast Asia. He added that within these structured systems lies a harsher reality, namely that many individuals working inside such networks are themselves trafficked victims.
He said a single fraudulent transaction may involve a victim in one country, a server in another, financial routing through a third and operators located elsewhere, making the crime difficult to trace. He further said that people operating within these networks are often not willing participants but victims confined in scam compounds and compelled through coercion, surveillance and physical intimidation to perpetrate fraud, becoming both instruments and victims of an exploitative criminal enterprise.
Challenges for Police and Courts
The Chief Justice said law enforcement agencies such as the CBI need a shift in approach towards anticipation, preparedness and adaptability, backed by capacity building, collaboration and technology-led governance. He said the diffusion of location poses a profound challenge for enforcement because traditional concepts of jurisdiction are limited, and that this also creates conceptual difficulties for the judiciary.
He said such offences raise questions about the governing legal framework, agency primacy, and the lawful access and preservation of evidence. He also pointed to issues surrounding digital evidence, whose authenticity depends on metadata, chain of custody and technical validation. Courts, he said, must engage with evolving standards of admissibility while addressing cross-border evidence requests, foreign digital material and the timelines governing international cooperation.
CJI Kant added that even when enforcement agencies overcome some of these challenges, the network often shifts operations to another region. He said fraudulent transactions are initially processed by banks as normal transactions, while telecommunication networks and digital platforms may hold data that could help identify the source or detect patterns of fraudulent behaviour, yet such data is often not shared.
By the time a victim reaches law enforcement, he said, the money has usually been split into smaller accounts and routed through multiple channels, while agencies continue to investigate in a conventional manner.
About the author – Ayesha Aayat is a law student and contributor covering cybercrime, online frauds, and digital safety concerns. Her writing aims to raise awareness about evolving cyber threats and legal responses.
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