New Delhi, July 29 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that digital arrest frauds require to be defined as a standalone offence with harsh punishment and a provision to attach assets of accused after the Centre said that work is underway to come out with a draft bill covering digital arrest cases preferably to be presented in the present session of Parliament. The suggestion by the court came in a suo motu petition on the victims of digital arrest fraud where it is examining steps being taken by an inter-departmental committee (IDC) of the Centre supervising action against such cyber frauds on multiple fronts. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said, "Do we need to formally define digital arrest? Though it is a clear case of extortion and involves robbery and some element of dacoity as well, we need to define it as a standalone offence with severe penal consequences." Noting the occurrence of such frauds being reported throughout the country, the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, said, "This must be accompanied with a provision that where, prima facie, there is a finding of involvement of a person, all his movable and immovable assets must be frozen." Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, informed the bench, "On the statutory changes to be made, I must inform the court that there is a draft Bill coming up possibly in this Parliament session on digital arrest fraud." The bench said that the Centre may also be required to have a relook at the Information Technology Act, 2000, in the age of deepfakes and digital arrest cases. "Changes may be required to offences such as hacking by impersonation (section 66D) in such cases. Today, there are several technological tools for cheating and impersonation that require you to have a relook."...