WhatsApp harassment: complaint, evidence and the law

By Advocate Panchanand Shaw, Bar Council of West Bengal · Published 2 Nov 2026 · Cyber crime

Harassment on WhatsApp is treated by Indian law as harassment that happens to arrive through a phone, not as a milder category of abuse. Messages, voice notes, forwarded photographs and group pile-ons are all electronic records, and the conduct they carry can be prosecuted under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 — most often section 351 for criminal intimidation, section 352 for intentional insult, section 356 for defamation and, where a woman is targeted, section 79 for insulting her modesty or section 78 for stalking — together with the Information Technology Act 2000, principally sections 66C, 66D, 66E and 67.

The practical problem is almost never the absence of a law. It is that victims delete the chat, block the number before capturing the profile, or walk into a police station with screenshots that cannot be tied to any identifiable person. A complaint that survives is one built in a fixed order: capture the evidence first, report to the platform second, report to the police third, and only then decide whether to block. This page sets out that order, the sections that apply, and the points on which these cases are actually won or lost.

What the law says

Indian law does not contain a single section called harassment on WhatsApp. A single stream of messages can attract several provisions at once, and the correct mix depends on what was said, who said it, whether there was a demand, and whether any private image was involved. The provisions below are the ones a Kolkata cyber crime lawyer would normally examine first.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023

Section 351 punishes criminal intimidation: threatening injury to a person, to reputation or to property, with intent to cause alarm or to compel someone to do an act they are not legally bound to do. A message saying that photographs will be circulated, or that the recipient will be defamed, falls squarely here. Section 352 covers intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, which is the provision used for sustained abusive messaging that is designed to humiliate. Section 356 covers defamation, including imputations made in electronic form.

Where the recipient is a woman, section 79 is available for words, gestures or acts intended to insult her modesty, and section 78 for stalking, which expressly includes following or contacting a woman through any form of electronic communication. Sections 78 and 79 are gender-specific and carry their own thresholds; they are not interchangeable with the general intimidation provision. Section 77, on voyeurism, becomes relevant when a private image was captured or transmitted without consent.

Two points about timing matter. The BNS came into force on 1 July 2024. Conduct before that date is charged under the corresponding IPC provisions, and the transitions are not always tidy; the older sections that map to today's 351 and 352 are sections 503 and 504 IPC. A complaint about a 2023 campaign of messages and a 2025 campaign should not be drafted as though the same statute governs both.

Information Technology Act 2000

Section 66C covers identity theft — the fraudulent or dishonest use of another person's electronic signature, password or unique identification feature. It applies where someone created a profile in the complainant's name, or took over an account, in order to send the messages. Section 66D covers cheating by personation using a computer resource, which is the charge for someone posing as a friend, a relative or an officer in order to extract money or information. Section 66E covers the capture or publication of the private area of a person without consent, and section 67 covers publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form. Section 67B deals with sexually explicit material involving children and is relevant only where a minor is involved, in which case POCSO also applies.

What is not a criminal offence

Rudeness is not an offence. A single argument in a family group, or a message the recipient finds merely unpleasant, does not become criminal intimidation because it caused distress. The line is between conduct intended to alarm, coerce, humiliate or stalk and conduct that is simply unwelcome. Saying this plainly at the drafting stage saves time, because a first information report that overreaches on the facts is the easiest kind to close.

The evidence that decides these cases

WhatsApp is an intermediary. It does not hand over chat content to a private complainant, and the police obtain account and subscriber data through a lawful request made to the platform. What the complainant can do is create a reliable record that the police can act on. A screenshot alone is weak; a screenshot with the sender's number, the profile name and photograph visible, the date and time on screen, and a continuous capture of the conversation is far stronger.

The method is to screen-record the chat while scrolling slowly from the first message to the last, then export the chat from within WhatsApp, which produces a text file with timestamps. Keep the original phone: do not factory reset it, delete the chat or clear app storage. Under section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 electronic records are admissible, but the party relying on them must produce a certificate identifying the device, the account and the hash value, and a complainant who has kept the handset intact makes that possible.

Save the sender's profile screenshot, the number as displayed and any voice notes as files. If the messages came from a group, capture its name and administrators. Identity is the weakest link in most WhatsApp cases: the account may be registered to a number obtained on a stolen identity card, and the investigation then turns on the device, the IP logs and the linked bank account.

How to complain, step by step

1. Secure the evidence before anything else. Screen-record the conversation, export the chat, screenshot the profile, and keep the handset. Note the date and time of each threatening message in a plain notebook, in order. Do not forward the messages to friends in a way that strips the original headers.
2. Report to WhatsApp. Open the chat, use the report option, and block only after reporting if you intend to block. Reporting sends the recent messages to WhatsApp for review but does not produce a report you can file in court, so keep your own copy. A business account can also be reported through the platform's grievance channel.
3. Call 1930 or use cybercrime.gov.in. The national cyber crime helpline and portal accept complaints about harassment, obscene content and impersonation, not only about money. A portal complaint generates an acknowledgement number; keep it. For a threat to life or a sexual image being circulated, call 112 as well and treat it as an emergency.
4. Write to the police station. Under section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, information about a cognisable offence may be given orally, in writing or by electronic communication. Take a printed complaint with the evidence index, ask for a receipt, and if the station declines to register, ask for the reason in writing. Section 173 also allows the officer in charge to conduct a preliminary enquiry within fourteen days for offences punishable between three and seven years, which is why a clear chronology helps.
5. If the station does not act, go to the magistrate. Section 175(3) BNSS allows an aggrieved person to apply to a magistrate, who may direct investigation. This is not an appeal against the police; it is a separate statutory route and it works best when the application attaches the earlier written complaint and its receipt.
6. Escalate the account, not only the message. If a fake profile is being used, report it through the platform's impersonation flow and, where the platform does not respond within the timelines set by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, escalate to the Grievance Appellate Committee constituted under those rules.
7. Follow up in writing. Every ten to fourteen days, send a short written reminder referring to the complaint number and adding any new messages. A file that grows is harder to close than a single unanswered letter.

Where to complain, and what each forum can actually do

What decides the outcome

The first factor is identifiability. A complaint against an unsaved number is not weak, but it depends on the platform's records; one against a named person with a saved contact and a matching profile photograph moves faster, because the link between account and accused need not be built from scratch.

The second factor is the character of the conduct. A single abusive message is usually treated as an isolated incident. A pattern — messages at night, repeated after being asked to stop, escalating from insults to threats, or extending to the complainant's family — is what converts an unpleasant exchange into an offence worth investigating. A dated log of the pattern is more persuasive than any single screenshot, however shocking.

The third factor is whether the complainant's own conduct gave the accused a defence. Sharing the screenshots publicly, naming the person on social media, or sending messages back in the same register can complicate the case and, in some situations, expose the complainant to a counter-complaint. The law protects a person who reports to the authorities; it does not protect a campaign of public accusation.

Where an intermediary has actual knowledge and still does not act, its own position under section 79 of the IT Act read with the 2021 Rules becomes questionable.

Mistakes that weaken a harassment complaint

• Deleting the chat or blocking the number before capturing the profile and the message headers.
• Submitting only cropped screenshots with no date, time or sender number visible.
• Filing a complaint that describes feelings rather than messages. Quote the exact words, with dates.
• Confronting the sender directly and thereby warning them to delete the account.
• Assuming a police complaint and a platform report are the same thing. They run on different tracks.

If the harassment sits alongside a matrimonial, property or workplace dispute, say so at the outset. Concealing the context does not help; the police will find it and the complaint will look selective.

When to involve a lawyer

Many WhatsApp harassment complaints need no lawyer where the messages are clear, the sender is known and the police act. A lawyer helps at three points: when the police decline to register and a section 175(3) application has to be drafted; when the conduct is entangled with a matrimonial or employment dispute and the criminal and civil tracks must be sequenced; and when the accused must answer a complaint that misstates what was said. In Kolkata the forums are the local police station, the cyber crime cell and, on a bail or quashing application, the City Sessions Court and the Calcutta High Court.

What the file needs is not drama but order: evidence captured before deletion, a written complaint with a receipt, and a record of every follow-up. If you are unsure whether what you received crosses from unpleasant into criminal, a short consultation with a cyber crime lawyer in Kolkata usually settles it, and the same review helps an accused person understand the exposure before responding. Further guides sit in the cyber crime blog, and you can contact the office with the facts.

Frequently asked questions

Information for general guidance only and not legal advice. Provisions cited follow the Information Technology Act 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023.

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