Pesky calls: Government imposes penalties of up to Rs 10,000

NEW DELHI: Unable to effectively control the menace of pesky callers and unsolicited messaging, the government has finally decided to slap financial penalties on offenders, also putting in place a mechanism to dismantle the infrastructure of repeated troublemakers, including disabling their numbers and mobile devices.

The maximum penalty has been fixed at Rs 10,000 per violation, and the telecom department also created two special wings — digital intelligence unit (DIU) and telecom analytics for fraud management and consumer protection (TAFCOP) — to track crimes committed through telecom networks.

The decision to impose financial penalty may act as a strong deterrent against the nagging instances of unwanted calls, messages and frauds perpetrated through mobile networks, which had continued unabated even when subscribers registered for the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) service.