As technology transforms everyday life, protecting women now requires a strong response not only on the streets, but also in the digital world.
THE NEW FACE OF CRIME AGAINST WOMEN
The safety of women in India is no longer confined to the physical world. With education, employment, banking, communication and social interaction increasingly moving online, the digital environment has become an inseparable part of women’s lives—and consequently, an important area of women’s safety.
Over the past decade, the Government of India has expanded a range of institutional, technological and legal mechanisms aimed at improving the safety, dignity and empowerment of women. One of the central frameworks is Mission Shakti, whose Sambal component focuses specifically on women’s safety and security. It includes initiatives such as One Stop Centres, the Women Helpline, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Nari Adalats.
The One Stop Centre system seeks to ensure that a woman facing violence or distress does not have to move from one institution to another for assistance. Police facilitation, medical assistance, legal support, psychological counselling and temporary shelter are brought together under one system. Government data cited in the source material reported 973 operational One Stop Centres and more than 14.49 lakh women assisted.
Technology has also become an important component of this safety network. The Women Helpline 181 provides assistance, while the national 112 Emergency Response Support System connects citizens with emergency services. Safe City Projects in eight major cities have incorporated measures such as CCTV coverage of identified hotspots, command-and-control systems, women police outposts, patrols and Women Help Desks.
But the nature of the threat has changed dramatically.
A woman may be sitting safely inside her home and still become the victim of a crime. Her photograph may be stolen, her identity impersonated, her social-media account hacked or her image manipulated using artificial intelligence. Deepfakes, cyberstalking, online blackmail, fake profiles and anonymous threats have created new forms of vulnerability.
Technology has effectively changed the meaning of personal space. A mobile phone can become the scene of a crime, while a photograph or video shared online can be manipulated and misused without the victim’s consent. Increasingly, criminals do not even require a genuine intimate photograph; technology can be used to manufacture one.
DEEPFAKES: WHEN SEEING IS NO LONGER BELIEVING
Artificial intelligence has brought extraordinary possibilities, but it can also be misused. Photographs can be manipulated, voices imitated and videos altered to create completely fabricated events that appear convincing.
For women, such misuse can result in harassment, humiliation, blackmail, reputational damage and fear. The regulatory framework concerning intermediaries also addresses complaints involving intimate content, electronic impersonation and artificially morphed imagery.
The essential message is simple: if harmful material appears online, it should be reported, evidence should be preserved and appropriate action should be sought promptly.
SEXTORTION AND CYBERSTALKING
Sextortion is another serious form of cybercrime. Criminals may obtain—or fabricate—intimate material and threaten to circulate it among family members, employers or the public unless the victim pays money or meets further demands.
The criminal’s greatest weapon is often not the image itself, but the victim’s fear of social embarrassment. Families therefore have an important role to play. When a woman reports that something terrible has happened online, the first response should be support rather than blame.
Cyberstalking may begin with seemingly insignificant incidents—repeated messages, newly created accounts after being blocked, monitoring of a woman’s workplace or educational institution, or fake accounts carrying her name and photograph. Victims should preserve screenshots, usernames, profile links, telephone numbers, dates, messages and other relevant records.
The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal provides a mechanism for reporting cybercrime, including offences concerning women and children.
FINANCIAL CYBER FRAUD: EVERY MINUTE MATTERS
Women are also increasingly targeted by financial cyber fraud. Fraudsters may impersonate bank officials, courier companies, police agencies or other institutions and manipulate victims into transferring money, sharing OTPs, clicking fraudulent links or installing malicious applications.
In such cases, speed is critical. The Government’s cybercrime reporting system directs victims of financial cyber fraud to call 1930 promptly.
WHAT SHOULD A VICTIM DO?
- FIRST — Preserve the evidence. Screenshots, messages, usernames, profile links, telephone numbers, email addresses, transaction IDs, UPI details and bank messages should be retained.
- SECOND — Do not continue negotiating with a blackmailer. Paying once does not necessarily stop the threats.
- THIRD — Secure the accounts. Passwords should be changed, two-factor authentication activated and unfamiliar login sessions or devices removed.
- FOURTH — Report the offending content to the platform, particularly where intimate imagery, impersonation or manipulated imagery is involved.
- FIFTH — Report the cybercrime. The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal is available at cybercrime.gov.in. For immediate financial cyber fraud, victims should call 1930. In situations involving immediate physical danger, 112 may be used, while 181 remains an important women’s support channel.
THE VICTIM MUST NOT BE BLAMED
Perhaps the most important change required is social rather than technological.
If money is stolen from a bank account, society does not ordinarily blame the victim for having a bank account. If a car is stolen, the victim is not blamed for owning a car. Similarly, when a woman’s photograph is stolen and misused, the focus should remain on the person who stole, manipulated, threatened or distributed it—not on the victim.
The priority must be to help the victim respond quickly and effectively.
FROM WOMEN’S SAFETY TO DIGITAL FREEDOM
India has developed institutions for protecting women in the physical world. Those protections must now evolve with the world in which women actually live.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) forms part of the national framework for coordinated action against cybercrime, while the national reporting system gives specific attention to cybercrime against women and children.
Government agencies, police, technology companies, educational institutions, parents and society all have roles to play. The objective should not be to frighten women away from technology. It should be to ensure that women can use technology confidently and safely.
A young woman should be able to study online, work online, build a business, communicate and express herself without being told that safety requires silence or withdrawal from the digital world.
“Do not panic. Do not surrender to shame. Preserve the evidence. Secure your accounts. Report the content. Report the crime. Ask for help quickly.”
THE MESSAGE
Technology will continue to evolve, and criminals will continue to look for new methods. The response must therefore evolve as well. Women’s safety in the twenty-first century is not merely about making streets safer. It is also about making homes, workplaces, phones, identities and digital lives safer.
A woman’s right to safety does not end where the physical world ends. It follows her into the digital world.
