Cybercrime Guide | Kolkata
Online Harassment and Cyberstalking in Kolkata: Complaint and Safety Checklist
Repeated threatening, sexual, abusive, impersonating, or intrusive online conduct should be documented carefully while immediate safety, account security, and the correct reporting route are addressed.
Important: This is general legal information. If there is immediate physical danger, contact 112. The applicable offence and remedy depend on the exact words, acts, identities, platforms, age of the person affected, and current law.
Protect safety before building the file
- Do not arrange an in-person meeting with an unknown or threatening sender.
- Tell a trusted person where online conduct suggests offline surveillance or contact.
- Change compromised passwords, enable multi-factor authentication, and review active sessions.
- Use platform blocking and reporting tools after preserving the evidence needed to identify the account and content.
- For intimate images, sexual threats, or conduct involving a child, use the appropriate women/child reporting route and avoid redistributing the material.
Preserve evidence in context
Capture the full screen where possible, including username, profile URL, date, time, platform, and surrounding conversation. Save message exports, emails with headers, call logs, account-report acknowledgements, and original media files. Maintain a dated incident log that distinguishes what you directly saw from what another person told you.
Do not crop every image so tightly that identity and context disappear. Do not edit files, impersonate the sender, or gain access to another account to collect evidence.
What a useful complaint should explain
- Who is affected and how the suspected account is connected to the conduct.
- What happened, using exact dates and a short sequence rather than conclusions alone.
- Why the conduct creates fear, harm, reputational risk, sexual exploitation, identity misuse, or another specific concern.
- Which evidence supports each incident and where the original is stored.
- Whether platform, employer, school, police, or portal reports have already been made.
- Whether the sender knows the person’s address, workplace, routine, or family details.
Choose the correct reporting route
The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal accepts cybercrime complaints, with dedicated routes for women- and child-related matters. A local police complaint may also be appropriate, especially where there are threats, repeated contact, immediate risk, or an identifiable local incident. The cybercrime helpline 1930 is specifically promoted for immediate reporting of financial cyber fraud; it should not be described as a substitute for emergency police assistance in a physical-safety situation.
Legal classification requires the facts
Not every unpleasant message attracts the same legal provision. Threats, stalking, impersonation, account intrusion, disclosure of intimate material, obscenity, defamation, extortion, and financial fraud involve different elements and evidence. The Information Technology Act may operate alongside current criminal law and other statutes. A complaint should describe conduct accurately instead of guessing section numbers.
Official routes and focused help
Use the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and review the Information Technology Act, 2000 on India Code.
Official-source review completed 3 September 2026.
