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The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has expressed serious concern over the indefinite freezing of bank accounts belonging to innocent citizens after cybercriminals misuse their identity and personal details for fraud. The court asked the Central government to establish an effective mechanism to resolve such cases. Observing that innocent citizens should not suffer indefinitely for the actions of cybercriminals, the bench impleaded the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as a party and sought a formal response from the Centre.
A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi issued the directive on Thursday while hearing a petition filed by a builder whose business has been severely disrupted due to prolonged restrictions on his bank accounts. The court directed Deputy Solicitor General SB Pandey, appearing for the Central government, to obtain necessary instructions and file a counter-affidavit. The matter has been listed for further hearing after four weeks.
Fraud Triggered by Accidental Link Click
In his petition, the builder stated that his son had inadvertently clicked on a malicious link sent by a cybercriminal and subsequently shared his Aadhaar details along with other personal information. Cybercriminals allegedly misused this compromised data to conduct fraudulent banking transactions and cheat other individuals. Following these alleged cybercrimes, all bank accounts belonging to the petitioner were frozen.
According to the petitioner, the freeze brought his business operations to a standstill and prevented him from carrying out routine financial transactions. Despite registering a first information report regarding the incident in 2020 and making repeated efforts to resolve the issue, the restrictions on his bank accounts remained in place.
No Relief Despite Updating Aadhaar Details
The petitioner had previously approached the High Court seeking to unfreeze one of his savings accounts. At that time, the court permitted him to approach the Unique Identification Authority of India to cancel his old Aadhaar card and obtain a new one. Following the court’s order, his fresh biometric details were recorded and his registered mobile number was also changed.
It was expected that updating his identity credentials would prevent further misuse of the previously leaked data and pave the way for lifting the freeze on his bank accounts. However, despite completing all prescribed procedures and repeatedly contacting concerned authorities, the accounts remained frozen without any effective relief.
Banks Directed to Seek Clarity From Cyber Cell
During the hearing, counsel for the banks submitted that they had contacted the concerned cyber cell, but the freeze process had stalled due to a lack of further instructions from the investigating agency. Taking note of this, the bench directed the banks to re-establish contact with the cyber cell officials to ascertain the current status of the pending criminal cases and take appropriate legal action.
The court urged the banks to make every possible effort to resolve the impasse. Additionally, the bench directed the petitioner to implead the Additional Chief Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Home Department, the Lucknow Police Commissioner, and the Station House Officer of Vibhutikhand police station as respondents in the case.
In its order, the bench emphasized that relevant ministries and departments must formulate a comprehensive framework to address situations where innocent citizens face indefinite account freezes due to identity theft by cybercriminals. The case has highlighted gaps in balancing investigative requirements with timely relief for affected account holders. Further proceedings will depend on the responses submitted by the Central government and state authorities at the next hearing.
