Parliament Question: Dedicated Agency for Digital Harassment

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 274 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 21ST JULY, 2026/ ASHADHA 30, 1948 (SAKA) DEDICATED AGENCY FOR DIGITAL HARASSMENT

274. SHRI HIBI EDEN:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware of the rising cases of cyber fraud and digital harassment, State-wise including Kerala, particularly in Ernakulam district;

(b) whether the Government proposes to establish a dedicated agency to deal with cybercrimes;

(c) whether the cyber fraud cases reported and action taken, including blocking of SIM cards, devices and social media accounts during the last three years, State/UT and district-wise data including Kerala and Ernakulam;

and

(d) whether the Government has taken any steps for public awareness, prevention and victim support, including helplines and assistance mechanisms, to curb cyber fraud and digital harassment in Kerala? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI BANDI SANJAY KUMAR)

(a) to (d) : The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes the statistical data on crimes in its publication “Crime in India”.

The latest published report is for the year 2024. As per the data published by the NCRB, State/UT wise details of cases registered, cases charge- sheeted, cases convicted, persons arrested, persons charge-sheeted and-2- L.S.US.Q.NO. 274 FOR 21.07.2026 persons convicted under Fraud for Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) during the year 2023 & 2024 are at the Annexure- I. As per the data published by the NCRB, District wise details of cases registered under Fraud for Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) in Kerala during the year 2023 & 2024 is at the Annexure- II. Details regarding action taken on reported cyber fraud cases including blocking of SIM cards, devices and social media accounts are not maintained by NCRB.

‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Accordingly, the States and Union Territories (UTs) are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of cybercrime. The Central Government, through the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), supplements the efforts of States and UTs by providing policy guidance, technological support, capacity-building assistance, and financial resources to strengthen cybercrime management and enforcement capabilities.

To strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include the following:-3- L.S.US.Q.NO. 274 FOR 21.07.2026 i. The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) as an attached office to deal with all types of cyber crimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.

ii. The ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (NCRP) (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched, as a part of the I4C, to enable public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes, with special focus on cyber crimes against women and children. Cyber crime incidents reported on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action i.e. filing of chargesheets, arrest and resolution of complaints, thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law.

iii. The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’

(CFCFRMS), under I4C, has been launched in year 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. As per CFCFRMS operated by I4C, till 30.06.2026, financial amount of more than Rs. 11,158 Crore has been saved in more than 32.80 lakh complaints. A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.

iv. ‘Sahyog’ Portal has been launched to expedite the process of sending notices to IT intermediaries by the Appropriate Government or its agency under clause (b) of sub-section (3) of section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 to-4- L.S.US.Q.NO. 274 FOR 21.07.2026 facilitate the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link being v. Samanvaya Platform has been made operational to serve as an Management Information System (MIS) platform, data repository and a coordination platform for LEAs for cybercrime data sharing and analytics.

It provides analytics based interstate linkages of crimes and criminals, involved in cybercrime complaints in various States/UTs. The module ‘Pratibimb’ maps locations of criminals and crime infrastructure on a map to give visibility to jurisdictional officers. The module also facilitates seeking and receiving of techno-legal assistance by Law Enforcement Agencies from I4C and other SMEs. It has lead to arrest of more than 29,837 accused and more than 2,33,593 Cyber Investigation assistance request.

vi. To further strengthen operational efficiency and ensure uniformity in handling cybercrime complaints, the Ministry has issued a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for NCRP-CFCFRMS.

The SOP lays down a standardized framework for complaint processing, bank coordination, grievance redressal, removal of lien markings, and restoration of defrauded funds to rightful claimants based on complaints received through the NCRP. Money Restoration Module for expeditious restoration of defrauded money to the victims and Grievance Redressal Module for timely attending to the grievances relating to freezing of the-5- L.S.US.Q.NO. 274 FOR 21.07.2026 bank accounts and lien marking of the amount, have been made functional from April, 2026.

vii. To further spread awareness on cyber crime, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include; caller tune campaign, dissemination of messages through SMS, I4C social media account i.e. X (formerly Twitter) (@CyberDost), Facebook(CyberDostI4C), Instagram

(CyberDostI4C), Telegram(cyberdosti4c), SMS campaign, TV campaign, Radio campaign, School Campaign, advertisement in cinema halls, celebrity endorsement, IPL campaign, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple mediums, organizing Cyber Safety and Security Awareness weeks in association with States/UTs, publishing of Handbook for Adolescents/Students, digital displays on railway stations and airports across, etc.

*****-6- ANNEXURE-I L.S. .US. Q. NO. 274 FOR 21.07.2026 State/UT-wise Cases Registered(CR), Cases Chargesheeted(CCS), Cases Convicted(CON), Persons Arrested(PAR), Persons Chargesheeted(PCS) and Persons Convicted(PCV) under Fraud (Sec. 420 r/w Sec.465, 468/471 IPC r/w IT Act) for Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) in the Year 2023 & 2024 SL State/UT 2023 2024 CR CCS CON PAR PCS PCV CR CCS CON PAR PCS PCV 1 Andhra Pradesh 909 77 0 75 90 0 593 26 0 54 63 0 2 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Assam 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 4 Bihar 2611 1540 2 1899 1877 9 4020 631 8 884 949 8 5 Chhattisgarh 29 10 0 11 11 0 74 33 2 57 53 2 6 Goa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 Gujarat 112 32 0 88 70 0 80 23 0 56 55 0 8 Haryana 11 6 0 16 16 0 215 185 0 706 652 0 9 Himachal Pradesh 7 5 0 0 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 10 Jharkhand 43 21 0 21 21 0 57 27 0 54 27 0 11 Karnataka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 Kerala 117 3 0 15 4 0 86 4 1 9 14 1 13 Madhya Pradesh 91 18 6 52 47 7 96 82 3 204 209 4 14 Maharashtra 2075 276 0 565 449 0 2827 358 0 555 497 0 15 Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Meghalaya 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 Mizoram 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Nagaland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Odisha 1362 75 0 139 160 0 1546 72 0 78 121 0 20 Punjab 25 16 1 27 18 2 95 9 0 33 13 0 21 Rajasthan 84 9 0 18 17 0 78 15 0 46 46 0 22 Sikkim 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Tamil Nadu 887 14 0 46 26 0 684 3 0 35 3 0 24 Telangana 10626 1760 6 505 3757 6 18922 2127 214 1192 3043 231 25 Tripura 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 Uttar Pradesh 287 86 0 63 123 0 165 91 1 123 160 1 27 Uttarakhand 18 19 0 19 24 0 2 4 0 1 4 0 2 8 West Bengal 7 3 0 6 3 0 29 0 0 0 0 0 TOTAL STATE(S) 19301 3970 15 3565 6719 24 29572 3690 229 4091 5909 247 29 A&N Islands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 Chandigarh 0 0 0 0 0 0 76 9 0 31 24 0 31 D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 Delhi 163 31 7 85 61 11 110 31 1 64 39 3 33 Jammu & Kashmir 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 34 Ladakh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 Puducherry 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTAL UT(S) 165 31 7 85 61 11 186 40 1 95 63 3 TOTAL (ALL INDIA) 19466 4001 22 3650 6780 35 29758 3730 230 4186 5972 250

Source: ‘Crime in India’ published by NCRB.-7- ANNEXURE-II L.S. .US. Q. NO. 274 FOR 21.07.2026 District wise cases registered in Kerala under Fraud (Sec. 420 r/w Sec.465, 468/471 IPC r/w IT Act) for Cyber Crimes (involving communication devices as medium/target) in the year 2023 & 2024 S. No. Districts Fraud in the Year 2023 Fraud in the Year 2024 1 All Districts 63 - 2 Alapuzha 1 0 3 Ernakulam Commercial 2 0 4 Ernakulam Rural 0 3 5 Idukki 0 1 6 Kannur City 33 0 7 Kasargod 0 2 8 Kollam Commercial 0 0 9 Kollam Rural 0 11 10 Kottayam 0 1 11 Kozhikode Commercial 9 12 12 Kozhikode Rural 2 20 13 Malappuram 0 35 14 Palakkad 0 0 15 Pathanamthitta 0 0 16 Railways 0 0 17 Thrissur Commercial 0 0 18 Thrissur Rural 0 0 19 Trivandrum Commercial 0 0 20 Trivandrum Rural 6 0 21 Wayanadu 0 0 22 Crime Branch 0 1 23 Kannur Rural 1 0 Total 117 86

Source: ‘Crime in India’ published by NCRB. *****