NHRC holds Open House Discussion on safeguarding human rights against digital arrest scams

📌 Summary:

• NHRC, India organised a hybrid Open House Discussion on Safeguarding human rights against digital arrest scams, chaired by NHRC Chairperson Justice V. Ramasubramanian
• Participants included MeitY, Ministry of Telecommunications, TRAI, RBI, CBI, NPCI, legal/domain experts, telecom operators and banking/fintech associations
• Scale of harm: Indians lost about ₹52,976 crore to cyber-enabled frauds over the past six years, with nearly 8% of losses from digital arrest scams (data compiled by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, I4C, via the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal)
• Modus operandi: scamsters coerce victims into transferring money by exploiting fear of law-enforcement; lakhs of mule accounts facilitate movement of fraudulent funds; recovery is lengthy, costly and distressing
• Key suggestion: recognise digital arrest scams as a distinct offence under the existing legal framework to enable more effective investigation, prosecution and victim redressal; members stressed data privacy/protection and that prevention is a responsibility of good governance, not just technology and regulation

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — cyber security, role of NHRC; GS2 — human rights and good governance

📝 Prelims Facts:

• NHRC is a statutory body established under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993
• I4C = Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (under MHA); runs the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
• Mule account = a bank account used to receive and move illicitly obtained money

🔑 Key Term: Digital arrest scam — a fraud where criminals impersonate law-enforcement officials over video/call, falsely claim the victim is under arrest, and coerce money transfers.