Centre may table bill to make deepfakes, digital arrest separate offences

NEW DELHI: Government on Tuesday said it may introduce a bill in the ongoing session of Parliament making digital arrest and AI-generated deepfakes a distinct offence, after Supreme Court pointed out that existing penal laws do not define these offences. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta said the law will be aimed at categorising digital arrest and AI-generated deepfakes as specific offences with consequential punishments. During suo motu proceedings on the mechanism to curb the menace of digital arrest, a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said SC has taken a harsh stand against those involved in digital arrest scams and denied them bail, but asked do penal laws define such offences? “You (govt) may need to formally define the case of digital arrest in penal laws,” the bench told attorney general R Venkataramani. “It (digital arrest) has elements of extortion, robbery and organised crime. Do you need to define this as a standalone offence with stringent consequences like freezing of assets of accused persons?” the bench asked attorney general R Venkataramani, who has been coordinating with a high-level inter-departmental committee constituted especially for dealing with the menace of digital arrest. Justice Bagchi said coming up with a law designed to deal with digital scams is a job that govt alone can do. “We now have deepfakes which can be used for misleading people or can be used for cheating and impersonation. Using our (exclusive) powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, we can neither define a crime nor create a new offence,” he said. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the bench that he has been consulted on this issue by govt and it is likely to introduce a relevant bill in the present session of Parliament. Venkataramani said because of a coordinated action facilitated by the inter-departmental committee, incidents of digital arrest have recorded a drastic fall. He said the panel is in the process of finalising a comprehensive report to identify gaps in the system and measures to plug them. Supreme Court after taking suo motu cognizance of spiralling incidents of digital arrest, especially targeting retired people and robbing them of their life’s savings, had tasked CBI to probe incidents being reported from across the country. Appearing for WhatsApp, senior advocate Kapil Sibal told SC that the social media platform is coordinating with govt to stop misuse of the platform for commission of crime.