What counts as cyber crime in India today?

Cyber offences are prosecuted under two parallel statutes: the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) for offences like hacking (S. 66), identity theft (S. 66C), cheating by personation using a computer resource (S. 66D), violation of privacy (S. 66E) and obscene/sexually explicit material online (S. 67, 67A, 67B); and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) for the underlying offence — cheating is S. 318 BNS (earlier 420 IPC), criminal intimidation is S. 351 BNS (earlier 506 IPC), and forgery is S. 336 BNS (earlier 463 IPC).

Common matters handled

Typical briefs from Kota include: (i) UPI / net-banking fraud and refund recovery; (ii) sudden account-freeze by police on the suspicion that proceeds of crime have been credited (commonly via Binance / crypto P2P trades); (iii) sextortion and morphed-image extortion; (iv) social-media defamation and harassment under Sections 79 and 69-A IT Act; (v) e-commerce and matrimonial-site frauds; (vi) data leaks by employees and breach of NDAs.

Account freeze — what to do in the first 48 hours

A police lien on the bank account, often communicated as a hold on credit without explanation, must be challenged quickly: (i) obtain the LR/complaint number from the bank; (ii) trace the originating police station — usually outside Rajasthan; (iii) reply with proof of legitimate source — tax returns, ledger, KYC, GST invoices; (iv) move an application before the Magistrate having jurisdiction under Section 457 CrPC (now Section 503 BNSS) for release of the account/funds. A writ petition under Article 226 is also available if police inaction continues.

Sextortion and morphed-image complaints

Where the victim is the client, complaints are registered under Sections 354A, 354D BNS (stalking and harassment, earlier 354A/D IPC), Section 67 IT Act and, if minor, Section 14 POCSO. Where the client is wrongly accused, the strategy combines (a) anticipatory bail under Section 482 BNSS, (b) Section 528 BNSS / 482 CrPC quashing petition where the FIR is malicious, and (c) preservation of digital evidence — call recordings, screen recordings, WhatsApp metadata.

Filing a complaint

Most cyber FIRs in Kota are registered at the Cyber Police Station, Kota and online via the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in). For frauds, the 1930 helpline must be called within the “golden hour” to freeze the recipient account before the money is layered. Prompt 24-hour follow-through significantly improves chances of recovery.