Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, in a written reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha today, said that as per sub-section 42(3)(e) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023, obtaining subscriber identity modules or other telecommunication identifiers through fraud, cheating or personation is an offence. 'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India.

Government has made necessary legal provisions under sub-section 42(3)(c) and sub-section 42(3)(f) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 making tampering with telecommunication identifiers and willfully possessing radio equipment knowing that it uses unauthorized or tampered telecommunication identifiers as offences. In addition, Telecom Cyber Security Rules prohibit any person to intentionally remove, obliterate, change, or alter the unique telecommunication equipment identification number or intentionally use, produce, traffic in, have control or custody of, or possess hardware or software related to the telecommunication identifier or telecommunication equipment, knowing it has been configured in such manner.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT), through license conditions, has mandated that the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) ensure adequate verification of each and every customer before enrolling them as a subscriber.

DoT has developed a citizen centric Sanchar Saathi portal and App which, inter-alia, facilitates citizens to check genuineness of mobile handset through International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). DoT is promoting digital safety and preventing telecom-related fraud through widespread awareness campaigns under Sanchar Saathi initiative. Explainer videos and infographics regarding IMEI verification have been prepared and uploaded on the DoT’s social media platforms. DoT has also launched Sanchar Mitra scheme, through which student volunteers have been engaged to educate citizens about digital safety, fraud prevention, and the use of the Sanchar Saathi portal and app. Their involvement helps deepen awareness at the grassroots level, especially through communication in local languages. Apart from above, citizen outreach includes multilingual news articles and ads, digital screens and hoardings in public spaces, TV and radio messages, local-level activities by DoT field units, SMS campaigns with TSPs, and extensive social media content.

Sanchar Saathi also helps in ‘Jan bhagidari’ by all citizens in reporting suspected misuse of telecom resources in cyber frauds. By making it easy to report such suspected fraud communications, Sanchar Saathi allows those who understand the risk to actively protect those who do not, enabling authorities & telecom operators to identify patterns and take action on offending numbers & fake connections thus holding offenders accountable while protecting innocent subscribers.

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MI/ARJ

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