The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a petition seeking clear and uniform rules on the freezing and de freezing of bank accounts during cybercrime investigations. The plea has asked the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India to frame a Standard Operating Procedure to prevent arbitrary action and ensure fairness.
A Bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and S V N Bhatti directed that the petition be served on the Centre within three days and listed the matter for hearing next week.
The petition also seeks guidelines for all investigating agencies, including cyber cells across the country. It requests that no bank account should be frozen without a written and reasoned order, and that the account holder should be informed within twenty four hours of such action.
The plea was filed by petitioner Vivek Varshney through advocate Tushar Manohar Khairnar. The petitioner stated that he was affected by the “arbitrary freezing holding” of his bank accounts by the Cyber Cell of the Tamil Nadu Police. He claimed this was done without prior notice, communication or judicial approval, which violated his fundamental rights under Articles 19 one g and 21 of the Constitution.
“Direct the respondent Union of India and the Reserve Bank of India to formulate a uniform Standard Operating Procedure SOP governing the freezing and de freezing of bank accounts during cybercrime investigations, so as to prevent arbitrary action and ensure procedural fairness nationwide,” the plea said.
The petitioner said the freezing of his accounts had caused complete financial paralysis. He claimed it prevented him from meeting professional and personal responsibilities, including payment of essential expenses, taxes and liabilities.
“It is respectfully submitted that Section 106 three of BNSS 102 three of the Cr P C mandates that any seizure or freezing of property must be forthwith reported to the jurisdictional magistrate. However, in the instant case, no such compliance has been made. The action of the respondents is therefore without jurisdiction, arbitrary and unconstitutional,” the plea stated.
The petition highlighted the absence of any uniform procedure for freezing and unfreezing bank accounts during cybercrime or financial investigations. It said this had resulted in inconsistent practices across States, prolonged freezing periods and denial of financial rights without due process.
The petitioner also urged the court to ensure that unless an account holder is proven to be involved in a crime, their entire bank account or amounts beyond the alleged transaction should not be frozen. “Recognising the increasing frequency of such cases”, the plea urged the court to “formulate guidelines to save the common man from suffering from unnecessary harassment”.
It further requested directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs to frame a uniform policy and SOPs for similar cases.
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