SC asks govt to examine plea for emergency mechanism against cybercrime

The Supreme Court has directed the Union government to examine a representation that seeks the creation of a URL-specific, judicially supervised emergency mechanism to tackle grave unlawful digital activities like threats, deepfakes, and hateful content.

Plea Seeks Emergency Action Against Digital Harm

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Union government to examine a representation seeking creation of a URL-specific, judicially supervised emergency mechanism to address grave forms of unlawful digital activity, including threats of violence, non-consensual intimate content, deepfakes and hateful impersonation.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana passed the direction on a petition filed by practising advocate N K Goswami. The petitioner had sought directions for creation of an emergency mechanism to ensure timely and effective action against serious forms of digital harm. The plea contends that such cybercrimes affect fundamental rights including equality, dignity and life.

Court Notes Seriousness and Need for Expertise

The Supreme Court noted in its order that the nature of such cybercrimes has a serious bearing on fundamental rights and the need for timely and effective remedies. It also noted that the petitioner has drawn a comparison with international frameworks and sought various initiatives to control the menace of unlawful digital activities.

"It is submitted that such cyber crimes violate fundamental rights of equality, dignity and life and are seriously impacting timely, effective..." However, the Court noted that the issues raised by the petitioner concern various facets of cybercrime and that their detection involves domain expertise. "You have flagged various cyber crimes, different facets of it. How to detect them, that will need domain experts", the CJI remarked.

Direction to Union Ministries

The Court directed the petitioner to place his concerns before the competent authorities so that they could examine the issues raised. The petitioner had submitted a comprehensive representation dated June 22, 2026 to the concerned Ministries of the Union government seeking remedial measures against such unlawful digital activities.

The Court ultimately disposed of the petition with a direction to Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 -- Union Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Home Affairs and that of Law and Justice examine the representation and take appropriate remedial measures. "We dispose of with the direction to Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 to take remedial measures as required", the Court said. (ANI)

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