The victim or the
complainant can report cyber crime complaints online in National Cyber Crime reporting
portal. This portal is an initiative of Government of India to facilitate
victims or complainants to report cyber crime online. This portal caters to
complaints pertaining to cyber crimes only with special focus on cyber crimes
against women and children. Complaints reported on this portal are dealt by law
enforcement agencies/ police based on the information available in the
complaints. It is imperative to provide correct and accurate details while
filing complaint for prompt action. At present this portal caters to complaints
pertaining to online child pornography (CP), child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
or sexually explicit content such as rape/ gang rape (CP/ RGR) content. Victims
or complainants should contact local police in case of an emergency or for
reporting crimes other than cyber crimes.
· National police helpline is 112.
· National women helpline is 181.
· Cyber crime helpline is 1930.
Follow the
below given steps to lodge a complaint online
·
Open the
National Cyber Crime reporting portal
https://cybercrime.gov.in/ Go through this link to open the portal.
· Click on
file a complaint
· Click on
“I accept”
· Choose
one from “Report Cyber Crime related to women/ child” and “Report Cyber Crime”
based on the complaint you want to lodge.
Follow the below steps to lodge a complaint
offline
· The victim /complainant should write a complaint
narrating the whole incident and brief history should be mentioned.
· It should be registered in any cyber crime cell
across India.
· If there is no cyber crime cell, then an FIR can be
registered at the local police station.
· If they do not accept the complaint, the
commissioner or the Judicial Magistrate of the city should be approached.
What kind of information to provide if the victim
opt for “Report Cyber Crime”?
If the victim/ complainant
opt for “Report Cyber Crime”, in case of anonymous the victim/ complainant does
not need to provide any personal information. However information related to
the incident/ complaint like approximate date and time of the incident,
receiving/ viewing of content, state, district, police station, where the
incident occurred and any other additional information about the incident.
In case the victim/
complainant opt for “Report and Track”- information fields with red asterisk
(*) are mandatory. It is very important that the police authorities receive
complete information related to the complaint. Therefore, you will need to
provide key information such as your name, phone number, email address, details
of the incident/ complaint and necessary information supporting the complaint,
etc. The victim/ complainant should first register themselves using their
mobile number. They’ll then receive an OTP that will be used to verify their
phone number which is valid for 30 minutes. Once they successfully register
their mobile number on the portal, they can be able to report the complaint.
LEGISLATIONS
The following acts under the Indian Penal Code (IPC, 1860) section
354,
Section 354A: Demands for sexual favors
or displaying objectionable pictures against a woman’s consent or making sexual
remarks and sexual harassment will cause the imprisonment up to 3 years with
fines.
Section 354C: An act of photographing or
publishing a picture of a woman engaged in a private act without her consent
will lead to imprisonment of 3 to 7 years.
Section 354D: Contacting woman online
and sending irrelevant emails/messages despite the woman’s evident disinterest
will cause the imprisonment of 5 years with fines.
The Information Technology Act, 2000 also has provisions for
punishment under the following sections:
Section 66C-Identify cyber hacking is a
punishable offense with imprisonment of 3 years and
fines of Rs. 1 lakh.
Section 66E- Deals with the offense of
capturing, publishing, or sending pictures of women in circumstances that
violate privacy. This causes imprisonment of 3 years.
Section 67A- Makes it illegal to publish
and transmit sexually explicit content and is punishable with imprisonment of
up to 5 to 7 years.
The Cyber crime Prevention Act of 2012
focuses on preventing and prosecuting offenders involved in cyber crimes like
violating privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of information through
computer-related criminal activities.
The Indecent Representation of Women
(Prohibition) Act regulates and prohibits the indecent representation of women
through the media and publications, which also includes the audio-visual media,
the content in electronic form, and distribution of material on the Internet,
and the portrayal of women over the web.
Written
By:
Kakumanu Jagruthi [1st Year,
BA.LLB(Hons.)] under the guidance of Dr. Nagalatha Bathina, Associate
Professor, Vignan Institute of Law.
Editorial Director:
Dr. Nagalatha Bathina,
Associate Professor, Vignan Institute of Law.
Editors:
Dr. Praveen Kumar,
Director, Vignan Institute of Law
Mr. L. Ashish Kumar,
Assistant Professor, Vignan Institute of Law
Blog Managed By:
Taj Mahamood Baig [2nd
Year, BA.LLB(Hons.)]