The government plans to introduce a bill addressing digital arrests and AI deepfakes. Existing laws do not define these emerging digital crimes effectively. The Supreme Court urged the government to create specific offenses for these issues. This new legislation will categorize digital arrest and deepfakes as distinct offenses. Consequential punishments and asset freezing measures will be included in the proposed law.
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 the 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.
Source:ET Legal World
