Reporting Online Abuse

This post is also available in: ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)

If you are a victim of online abuse or know someone being victimised, you must report it to the authorities. You can report online abuse in any of the following ways:

Approaching the Police Station

When you go to the police station to complain about a case of online abuse that you have faced, they will ask you to file an FIR. You should make sure you give all the information you know about incident and abuse that you have faced.

Cyber Cell

Cyber Cells are present in every state and some police stations may have a unit designated to work on cyber crimes. These cells or units will look into and help you out in cases of online violence such as online stalking, hacking, etc. In many states, you can file a complaint online through the website of the cyber cell. For instance, for Delhi, you can file an online complaint here.

If you want to file a complaint, you will have to either:

• File a complaint online with your respective state’s Cyber Cell website or
• Approach the police station where you will have to file an FIR which will be forwarded to the Cyber Cell.

Complaint Portals

Online Crime Reporting Portal

You can also lodge a complaint by using the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Online Crime Reporting Portal. You may be redirected to a specific State Government’s website to register a complaint.

Register a complaint in the section “Services for Citizen”, and click on “Report a Cyber Crime ”. Here, you can provide information about the offender, the victim, and the incident along with any supporting evidence, such as screenshots. You can report anonymously or with identification, and you can track your complaint as well. 

Cyber Crime Reporting Portal

You can also directly file a complaint on the Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. Complaints can also be made anonymously.  You can complain against various cybercrimes by selecting the option ‘Report Cyber Crime Related to Women/Child’ or ‘Report Other Cyber Crime’. You must login and create an account and select “Report and Track” if you wish to track your complaint.