The Supreme Court on Thursday (13 August) stayed a controversial direction of the Rajasthan High Court requiring a government school teacher, who allegedly lost nearly ₹20 lakh in a cyber fraud, to bear the cost of the police investigation.
A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran was hearing the teacher’s challenge to certain observations in the High Court’s order.
Background of the Case
The case arose from an FIR registered in January 2026 concerning an alleged cyber fraud linked to an SBI Life insurance policy. The teacher had allegedly transferred around ₹20 lakh through multiple transactions after being promised higher returns.
While dealing with bail applications of two accused, the Rajasthan High Court had observed that the incident appeared to have occurred because of the complainant’s expectation of unusually high returns. It consequently directed the Superintendent of Police, Dausa, to calculate the investigation expenses and recover the amount from the complainant.
Supreme Court's Observation
During Thursday’s hearing, the teacher’s counsel argued that such a direction could discourage victims of cyber fraud from approaching the police.
The Bench, referring to the High Court’s reasoning, remarked in jest,
“High Court wanted you to pay the price for your own gullibility.”
The counsel submitted,
“Nobody will go to register an FIR in such cases if such precedents are set.”
Decision
Taking note of the submissions, the Supreme Court stayed the observations contained in the challenged paragraphs of the Rajasthan High Court order.
It also sought responses from the State and other private respondents.
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