India, April 11 -- Holding that a customer cannot be penalised for cyber fraud without negligence, the Bombay high court has ordered HDFC Bank to return Rs.38.04 lakh to a Pune resident duped in a SIM swap scam. The court noted that banks are liable in unauthorized transactions if the customer has not contributed to the fraud, relying on RBI guidelines that fix zero liability in such cases.

A division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande passed the order on a petition filed by Subodh Korde, a business consultant, who maintained savings and current accounts with the bank's Wakad branch.

Korde told the court that on July 15, 2021, he received an alert about a Rs.2.14 lakh transfer he had not authorised. On checking his ...