New Delhi: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the Lok Sabha Monday batted for well defined penalties and compensation norms in law for the victims of cyber attacks who lose money from their bank accounts.
The matter was raised by Bargarh MP Prabhas Kumar Singh who spoke on the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 when it was taken up.
He said, “The government talks about digital India but the digital infrastructure in India is not secure enough to withstand cyber attacks and several cyber crimes have occurred. We need to clearly define the punishment and compensation for cyber crimes in digital transactions.” The Bill defines promissory notes, bills of exchange and cheques. It also specifies penalties for the bouncing of cheques and other violations of negotiable instruments.Singh added that digital transactions can also help ease of doing business and can potentially reduce the burden of unnecessary litigation and that the Bill would surely help in boosting the confidence of people in the banking system. He said that the digital system in India needs more scrutiny.
The MP also suggested discouraging cheque transactions to boost digital transactions.
He said, “In many countries use of cheques has witnessed a fall and has been replaced by digital payments. Cheques have either become a marginal payment system or are on the way of being phased out. Cheques are relatively more expensive for financial institutions and merchants who accept payments.”
The MP also demanded hike in the interim compensation to victims by cheque drawers in cases of bouncing at the time of trial.
“Why can’t it be 50 per cent and during conviction it should be another 25 per cent because these people are cheating the public. This will ensure public confidence in cheques,” he said.
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