Lawfully Yours: By Retired Justice K Chandru | I-T sleuths reading emails, social media against int'l norms of gathering evidence

I-T sleuths reading emails, social media against int'l norms of gathering evidence

Q: I feel that the recent amendment in rules that provide rights to the Income Tax department to access e-mails and other social media communications to probe any violation or undisclosed assets may lead to a witch-hunt. At a time when central agencies such as the I-T department are accused of being a political tool at the hands of the government at the Centre, do you think providing such broad-based powers to agencies breaches the privacy of an individual? Do you think such changes to the I-T Act are necessary? N Suresh Kumar, Medavakkam, Chennai

A: Noted lawyer Palkhiwala always used to say that an indicator of a police state is a look at its Income Tax Act. The Income Tax authorities in this country have more powers than the police but yet are not governed by Constitutional protections. In the Pooranmal case (1974), the Supreme Court upheld section 132 of the Income Tax Act by which even illegally gathered materials are admissible in courts. This goes against any international norms of gathering evidence by investigation agencies.

Now we have more agencies with greater powers  like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). We are slowly progressing towards a police state. The new I-T Act has not reversed any of these provisions. Grin and bear it.

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Educate people using mass media on cyber crooks' changing modus operandi

Q: How to get rich, even if you are beginning with little or no resources is the new lure through social media. Such campaigns wrongly feature top business personalities, finance experts and even Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. You can earn millions a month with a simple initial investment of Rs 21,000 is what they say. For a layman, it may look real, but a close look at the visuals of these personalities gives it out as AI-generated images. In an era of cybercrime, this is another scam to trap ignorant citizens. The frequency with which these promo videos appear on various social media platforms is sure to have lured many hapless people. Does this country lack proper laws to counter such deceiving promo videos that even duplicate Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman? It is high time the law of the land extends its grasp over such scams and saves the public. -- Bobson, Madhavaram, Chennai

A: Luring gullible investors by fraudulent means is on the increase. Hitherto used unfair means were checked by law to some extent. But the modus operandi of cyber crooks has defied any restriction and the cry of innocent victims is on the increase. The cybercrime wing is unable to tackle large-scale frauds. The way out is to use the mass media to educate our people not to fall prey to it. The recent mobile alerts on digital arrest and the Prime Minister himself giving statements to watch out for such scams are laudable exercises.