Parliament Parliamentary Committee
239% rise in cybercrimes against women from 2017 to 2022
The Standing Committee on the Empowerment of Women examined the rise in cybercrimes targeting women and children, including cyberstalking, sextortion, and deepfakes, to address gaps in reporting, investigation, and platform accountability.
Who it concerns: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), State Police Forces, Social Media Intermediaries, and the general public (specifically women, children, and frontline workers).
What the committee found
- Committee observed a 239% increase in cybercrimes against women between 2017 and 2022 and a multi-fold rise in cases involving children.
- Committee recommended standardizing training quality and linking cyber skilling to career progression for police, along with establishing regional forensic units and mobile cyber forensic vans in every state.
- Committee recommended scaling up the CyberShakti programme by MeitY to develop a women workforce in cybersecurity, including a dedicated vertical for training women police officers and social welfare officials.
- Committee recommended that social media platforms adhere to higher accountability standards with shorter compliance timelines and mandatory deployment of AI-driven detection tools.
- Committee recommended introducing mandatory KYC-based verification across social media, dating, and gaming platforms to curb fake profiles and impersonation.
- Committee recommended MHA adopt a victim-centric Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) with a standard 24-hour timeline for initiating takedown requests through the SAHYOG portal.
- Committee recommended equipping Anganwadi centres, women helplines, and Panchayat digital kiosks to file National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) complaints on behalf of victims.
- Committee recommended MHA and MeitY design a national cyber safety awareness programme and train frontline workers (ASHAs, Anganwadi workers, teachers) as Cyber Safety Ambassadors.
- Committee recommended joint deployment of advanced AI-driven tools by MeitY and MHA for detecting child sexual exploitative abuse material, integrated with NCRP and law-enforcement workflows.
Also in the document
- National Crime Record Bureau data cited by the Committee shows a 239% increase in cybercrimes against women between 2017 and 2022.
- The Committee noted that current investigative capacities remain poor across states due to shortages in skilled cyber investigators and forensic analysts.
- The Committee recommended a standard 24-hour timeline for initiating takedown requests through the SAHYOG portal.
- The Committee noted that cyber safety awareness remains inadequate, particularly in rural and low digital literacy areas.
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The original document
Parliamentary Standing Committee reports (via PRS Legislative Research)
Committee report · Ref. cyber-crimes-and-cyber-security-of-women
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