PRATHIBA M. SINGH, J.

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present batch of matters relate to domain names being registered by unknown third parties infringing trade mark rights of various brand owners and implementation of Court orders by the Domain Name Registrars (‘DNR’s). In response to the challenges arising out of unauthorised registrations, from time to time, various directions have been passed by this Court in respect of blocking, locking and suspending of the infringing domain names, and implementation of Court orders by various DNRs which may or may not be located in India.

3. Vide order dated 24th November 2023, after grievances were raised by law enforcement agencies, particularly the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police, various banks were directed to improve coordination and information disclosure. In order to facilitate the same, this Court directed that a meeting take place between the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs and relevant parties to address all the issues/concerns raised by the law enforcement agencies. Thereafter, in order dated 1st February, 2024, this Court recorded that as per an affidavit dated 16th January, 2024, placed on record by the Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’), Standard Operating Procedures (‘SOP's) for information exchange between banks and various law enforcement agencies were established and circulated to all necessary parties. Further, on the said date, Mr. Ramesh Babu, ld. Counsel for RBI highlighted that SOPs mandate strict deadlines for banks to provide requested information to law enforcement agencies. However, Ms. Hetu Arora Sethi, ld. ASC appearing for the Delhi Police highlighted that some banks failed to provide the requested information to the Delhi Police Cyber Cell.

4. This Court had considered the said submissions made by the parties and the affidavit of RBI. After considering the same, this Court observed that while the SOP and its implementation were progressing, there was still work to be done. Consequently, this Court directed the IBA to convene further meetings of the concerned sub-groups and concerned sub-committee to ensure all banks adhere to the SOP regarding the disclosure of information to law enforcement agencies. In addition, vide order dated 1st February, 2024, notice was issued to the Indian Bank Association (‘IBA’) and IBA was directed to place on record their stand in respect of the implementation of the SOPs. Mr. Gautam, ld. Counsel appears for the IBA and has filed an affidavit of Mr. Srinivasa Rao, who is working as the Senior Advisor to the IBA. Mr. Rao has also joined virtually in the proceedings today.

5. As per the said affidavit, an SOP was already in place for providing information as requested by Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), however, the said SOP has now been again updated to meet the growing needs of LEAs. In fact, the said affidavit records that the working group/subgroup was made for the said purpose and the Central Intelligence Economic Bureau (‘CIEB’) has made an updated SOP. The CIEB had vide its letter dated 11th April, 2022 approved the said earlier SOP and the same was shared with all the member banks. The SOP which is currently operating is SOP-1 dated 11th April, 2022.

6. The RBI, thereafter, on 10th January, 2024 informed the IBA and banks that a meeting was held with the MHA including DGPs and high-ranking police officials. The LEAs had raised a request that the banks had to respond in a timely manner to the complaints lodged on National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (‘NCRP’) and that complaints which were lodged on holidays, weekends, etc., ought to be quickly responded to. The said email dated 10th January, 2024 by the RBI has also been annexed with the said affidavit. A further subgroup was then created by the IBA and a draft version of the updated SOP i.e., SOP-2 was designed on 7th March, 2024. The said updated SOP is annexed with the affidavit. The affidavit of Mr. Rao states as under:

“2.4. That subsequently, RBI vide its mail dated 10/01/2024 informed that a High-Level Meeting on prevention of cybercrimes was held by RBI with a team of Senior Officials from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) including 14C and DGPs of some States. The LEAs were of the view that there was a need for Banks to expedite:

(i) Response to the complaints lodged on National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP);

(ii) Response to the complaints lodged over weekend/ long holidays as the crime rate spikes during such time period;

(iii) Timely sharing of information sought by LEAs etc. Copy of Email dated 10.01.2024 received from RBI is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure CA-2.

2.5. That to examine the issues referred by RBI, IBA has constituted a Sub Group of 11 Banks (Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and Standard Chartered Bank) to discuss on the above points and to place the deliberations before the Standing committee and Management committee of IBA. The Sub Group deliberated on the subject and made suggestions for further streamlining the process and a draft SOP was designed on 07th March 2024. Copy of the updated SOP dated 07.03.2024 is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure CA-3.

2.6. That the above Draft SOP was deliberated and approved in the Standing Committee meeting held on 07/03/2024 and thereafter approved in the Management Committee held on 21/03/2024. We have forwarded the revised SOP to CEIB and RBI for their consent on 21.03.2024. On securing concurrence of CEIB & RBI, the same is proposed to be circulated among Member Banks/FIs for considering adoption.”

7. The Court has heard ld. Counsel for the IBA, Mr. Rao as also the RBI. A perusal of the SOP 2 which is annexed with the affidavit would show that nodal officers as a Single Point Of Contact (‘SPOC’) have to exist in every bank for responding to information sought by LEAs. A dedicated email address has also been directed to be created, for the said purpose, which needs to be active 24x7, and insofar as the compliance officers are concerned their contact numbers, email IDs and postal address has also to be made available on the website.

8. The updated SOP also consists of timelines for submission of information to LEAs. The timelines which have been set out in the affidavit is as under:

9. Mr. Ramesh Babu, ld. Counsel for the RBI, submits that once the SOP 2 is approved and forwarded to the CEIB and thereafter to the RBI, the same would be communicated to all banks for compliance.

10. In this background, considering the fact that in terms of the affidavit, before the updated SOP is notified to all the banks by the RBI, there could be some time gap in the communication and the implementation of the updated SOP, in the meantime, while the process of finalising and circulation of the SOP 2 by the RBI is continuing, the above-mentioned timelines shall be broadly adhered to by the banks so that the information requested by LEAs can be given in a timely and efficient manner. Ms. Sethi, ld. ASC appearing on behalf of the Delhi Police re-emphasises the fact that sometimes it is taking as many as ten reminders to the banks to provide the information being sought by the Delhi Police and even the nodal officers are not responding.

11. It is made clear that any such bank which is found to be not providing the information sought, within the timelines captured above, would be liable for stringent action. The nodal officers would also be responsible for ensuring providing of information to LEAs including the Delhi Police. The process of finalisation of the updated SOP, both by the CEIB as also by the RBI, to continue in an efficient manner and be concluded by 30th May, 2024. Subsequently, the SOP 2 shall be communicated to all banks for appropriate action and compliance.

12. Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, ld. Senior Counsel appearing for GoDaddy LLC has made further submissions today. Ld. Senior counsel submits that he needs half hour more to conclude his submissions.

13. Mr. Harish Vaidyanathan, ld. CGSC has also handed over a short affidavit deposed by the Under Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs informing the Court that a meeting was convened on 1st April, 2024 and an agency Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (‘I4C’) has been established. In the meeting discussions took place regarding various issues of coordination of cybercrime. After the said meeting, where inputs were received from various LEAs, the I4C was set up with the mandate as under:

“8. The Ministry of Home Affairs has rolled out the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) which has the mandate to develop effective coordination and cooperation amongst the LEAs of States/UTs and other stakeholders of cybercrime. 9. The I4C provides two modes of reporting online cybercrime complaints. First mode is through "National Cybercrime Reporting Portal" (NCRP) website [www.cybercrime.gov.in] and the second mode is through National Cybercrime Toll-free Helpline No. 1930. The NCRP portal is designed for reporting all types of cybercrime including online financial crimes. The NCRP portal is composed of two components - one for citizen complaint reporting and another for the Police to monitor and act up on those complaints and access other resources. The portal allows victims of cybercrime to easily lodge their complaints without having to visit any police stations. The portal helps the States/UTs to monitor various types of cybercrimes originating both nationally and internationally and take necessary steps to curb them.

10. The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS) has been developed by I4C to integrate Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), banks, and financial intermediaries to take immediate action against financial cyber frauds. The system empowers both banks and the police by allowing them to share online fraud-related information in real-time, enabling them to take swift action. The system traces the flow of crime proceeds through the financial channels and aims to prevent the outflow by timely interventions. Without timely intervention, the outflow of the crime proceeds is not possible to stop in the financial system. All States/Union Territories (UTs) and 293 Banks and Financial Institutions have been onboarded to CFCFRMS so far for effective visibility and to take swift action on the movements of fraudulently reported amounts and mark lien or freeze the same within the financial channels by the Law Enforcement agencies. The Law Enforcement Agencies of all States/UTs take necessary actions on the complaints received online on the portal as per law. l4C, Ministry of Home Affairs has no intervention in the process.

12. The l4C has constituted seven Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) [as tabulated below] in consultation with the States/UTs on the basis of cybercrime hotspots/areas for effective coordination of Law Enforcement Agencies. JCCT is mandated to achieve effective coordination among States/UTs for inter-state investigation assistance, intelligence-led operation, criminal profiling, data. Sharing, identification of suspects, real-time exchange of information, and cooperating on all other aspects of cybercrime and cyber threats. The JCCT is a regional grouping of States/UTs that can work together and also collaborate with the I4C, New Delhi, broadly in the areas of being a knowledge and resources sharing platform to holistically tackle cybercrime.”

14. Ld. Counsel for the parties may peruse this affidavit and make their submissions as to whether this portal could be used to address concerns of IP owners as well.

15. List on 7th May, 2024.

CS (COMM) 176/2021, CS (COMM) 490/2022, CS(COMM) 12/2022.

16. List on 29th April, 2024.

CS (COMM) 135/2022, CS(COMM) 193/2019, CS (COMM) 293/2021.

17. List on 30th April, 2024.

CS (COMM) 255/2020, CS(COMM) 471/2020, CS (COMM) 303/2022.

18. List on 2nd May, 2024.