The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Ludhiana, has directed HDFC Bank to immediately unfreeze the bank account of a city resident that had remained blocked since October 2023 over a disputed cyber-fraud transaction of merely Rs 2,038.The commission, comprising president Sanjeev Batra and member Monika Bhagat, also directed the bank to pay Rs 25,000 as composite compensation and costs to complainant Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Himmat Singh Nagar.The complainant had been maintaining a salary savings account with HDFC Bank since 2017 and was also using the account for payment of loan instalments to various financial institutions.According to the complaint, he maintained sufficient balance in the account for payment of the instalments. However, when the instalments were not debited and penal charges were imposed, he approached the bank and learnt that his account had been frozen.The complainant sought an explanation from the bank and subsequently submitted an application on October 6, 2023, seeking de-freezing of the account. He was later informed that a third person from Gujarat had allegedly committed a default and the disputed amount had been credited to his account, resulting in its freezing. The complainant denied having committed any default or being involved in any criminal proceedings.HDFC Bank, in its reply, stated that the account had been blocked following detection of a fraudulent transaction by the Cyber Crime police station, Surat City, Gujarat. It maintained that the account was blocked on the instructions of the Gujarat police authorities and denied any deficiency in service.During the proceedings, the complainant maintained that the disputed transaction was genuine and represented repayment of a loan by a person who had earlier borrowed money from him. The bank’s reply referred to a total disputed amount of Rs 2,038.The commission observed that the complainant had been deprived of the use of his account since October 2023 over the small disputed amount. It noted that he had explained the transaction and requested the bank to take up the matter with the Cyber Crime police station, Surat, but the bank instead waited for the enforcement agency to revoke the freeze.The commission further observed that there was nothing on record to show that any prior notice had been served upon the complainant. The alleged notice was neither accompanied by an FIR nor did it name the complainant as an accused in the preliminary investigation. The commission held that, at the most, the bank could have imposed a partial lien proportionate to Rs 2,038 instead of blocking the entire account.Relying on recent judgments of the Punjab and Haryana High Court cited in the order, the commission held that continued freezing of the entire account in such circumstances was arbitrary and disproportionate.The bank has been directed to unfreeze the account immediately upon receipt of the order. Failure to do so would attract Rs 500 per day from the date of the order till actual compliance, subject to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh. The Rs 25,000 compensation and costs are to be paid within 30 days.