Cybercrime victimisation affects women and rural citizens more severely. Analyse, and suggest a victim-centric policing framework.

The Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR) 2026 finds that 63% of cybercrime victims are dissatisfied with how police handled their complaints. Women and rural victims faced more repeated station visits and longer waits [1]. Reporting a cybercrime has become easier, but getting justice has not, and the gap is widest for the most vulnerable.

Why women and rural victims suffer more

• Access–justice gap: satisfaction is highest at the helpline stage and falls to 43% at investigation [1]. The 1930 helpline and the online portal (NCRP) are run centrally and can grow easily [2]. Investigation, however, is done by State police (police is a State List subject) [5], so rural victims depend on cyber police stations that may be far away.
• Physical burden in a "digital" process: victims still have to visit police stations repeatedly [1]. e-Zero FIR turns complaints into FIRs automatically only for high-value frauds, and the case still has to be followed up at a police station [3]. For rural victims this means lost wages and travel costs.
• Gendered harm: crimes against women often carry stigma, and police lack the specialised investigative and forensic capacity to handle them [4]. Both discourage women from pursuing a complaint.
• Digital divide: awareness is especially low in rural areas [4]. This makes rural citizens easy targets and weak complainants.
• Capacity overload: financial-fraud complaints on the NCRP rose about nine times between 2021 and 2025 [5]. Investigating staff did not grow at the same pace, so the weakest complainants wait longest.

Victim-centric policing framework

• Proximity: set up cyber cells in every district to map crime hotspots, as the Standing Committee on Home Affairs recommended in 2022 [6].
• Gender-sensitive capacity: create special cyber units with digital forensic support, add mobile forensic vans, and expand CyberShakti training for women officers [4].
• Fewer visits: extend e-Zero FIR to more cases and more States [3].
• Uniform process: enforce the 2 January 2026 SOP, which sets victim-centric steps for handling complaints [5].
• Community touchpoints: offer confidential reporting help through Anganwadi centres, and train ASHAs and teachers as Cyber Safety Ambassadors [4].
• Outcome accountability: publish how many complaints become FIRs, chargesheets and convictions; run regular victim surveys like SPIR [1]; and link cyber skills to promotion [4].

Cybercrime hits the vulnerable hardest because access has been centralised while justice is still delivered locally and on paper. Bringing investigation closer to victims, making it gender-sensitive and holding it to outcomes would give real meaning to equal protection (Article 14) and to SDG 16.3's promise of access to justice for all.