One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: Repeated abusive calls from an unknown number are not just a nuisance, they can amount to criminal intimidation and intentional insult under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. File a written complaint at the police station where the calls were received, preserve the call logs and recordings, and if the police do not register an FIR, escalate to the Superintendent of Police and then to the Magistrate.
Key Facts of the Case
- One unknown mobile number made repeated calls to the client's mother and younger sister, with abusive and intimidating language on each occasion.
- The calls continued for several days and caused genuine distress; the family stopped answering unknown numbers altogether.
- Call logs, screenshots and two short recordings were preserved from the first day, which later became the core of the prosecution's documentary case.
- The first visit to the local police station produced only an entry in the daily diary. No FIR was registered at that stage.
- The offences ultimately invoked were criminal intimidation, intentional insult and insult to the modesty of a woman, with the electronic evidence route opening up because the abuse was also sent by message.
- Subscriber details of the number were requisitioned by the investigating officer, and the caller was identified during investigation.
- No physical injury occurred. The case turned entirely on the content of the calls, their repetition and the identity of the caller.
The Direct Legal Answer
Yes, you have a criminal case. An unknown person who repeatedly calls your mother, sister or wife and uses abusive or threatening language commits offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The law does not care that the caller never showed up at your door.
Can abusive calls from an unknown number be treated as a criminal offence?
They can, and usually are. Criminal intimidation under Section 351 BNS covers threats of injury to person, reputation or property. Intentional insult under Section 352 BNS covers abuse intended to provoke a breach of the peace. Where the words insult the modesty of a woman, Section 79 BNS applies.
Will the police register an FIR on call logs alone?
They should, if the complaint discloses a cognizable offence. Practically, you improve the odds enormously by giving a written complaint that names the sections, attaches the logs and recordings, and states the dates and times of each call.
What if the number is unregistered or the caller is untraceable?
Subscriber details can still be requisitioned from the telecom service provider during investigation. Untraceable is not the same as uninvestigable.
Advice in Such Cases
Consult with Lawyer: The very basic and important step to start is talk to Lawyer / advocate. You should not hesitate in paying his consultation fee i.e. might be in range of Rs. 10,000 to 50,000 depends case to case. He is helping you in this situation to come out. He is expert in the domain and can help you explain the procedure which you might have never explored. A good lawyer can get the issues resolved much faster than you think.
Put your complaint in writing and hand it over at the police station. Take a stamped receipt copy. An oral complaint is easy to forget; a written one is not.
Stop answering the number, but do not stop recording. Every fresh call adds to the pattern, and the pattern is what proves intimidation rather than a one-off argument.
Matters involving electronic evidence and telecom subscriber records need advocates with domain-specific experience. Procedural and evidentiary nuances here are frequently missed by general practitioners, and a weak first complaint is hard to repair later.
Applicable Sections of Law
The primary provisions sit in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
- Section 351 BNS deals with criminal intimidation, including threats to a person's reputation.
- Section 352 BNS covers intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.
- Section 79 BNS covers words, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman.
- Section 78 BNS addresses stalking, which includes repeated unwanted contact.
- Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 applies where obscene material is transmitted electronically, for instance over WhatsApp.
Where more than one person is involved in the calling, common intention under the BNS can also be pressed into service.
Punishment and Penalties
Under Section 351 BNS, the simple form of criminal intimidation carries imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both. Where the threat is of death or grievous hurt, the punishment rises to imprisonment up to seven years. Section 352 BNS carries imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both. Section 79 BNS carries imprisonment up to three years and fine.
These offences are cognizable. The simple form of criminal intimidation is generally bailable, while the aggravated form is not. Whether an offence can be compounded depends on whether it appears in the table under Section 359 BNSS, and several of these offences are compoundable only with the permission of the court.
Jurisdiction — Where to File the Case
File the complaint at the police station where the calls were received. Under Section 173 BNSS, information about a cognizable offence is recorded by the officer in charge of the police station having jurisdiction over the place where the offence was committed, and when a call is made to you, that place is where you were sitting when the phone rang.
If you later learn that the caller was sitting in another state, that does not sink the complaint. The investigation can be transferred, or a Zero FIR can be registered at the station nearest to you and forwarded to the station that has jurisdiction. Do not let the question of jurisdiction become the reason you stay at home. Walk into the nearest station and put the complaint on record.
How to File the Complaint — Step by Step
Most complaints like this fail at the counter, not in court. Here is the sequence that works.
- Write it yourself. A plain sheet of paper is enough. Address it to the Station House Officer. Give your full name, address and phone number.
- Set out each call separately. Date, approximate time, duration, the number it came from, and what was said — in the actual words used, however unpleasant. Do not soften the language. The words are the offence.
- Name the sections. State that the conduct amounts to criminal intimidation under Section 351 BNS, intentional insult under Section 352 BNS, and, where applicable, insult to the modesty of a woman under Section 79 BNS.
- Attach the evidence. Printed call logs, screenshots of messages, and a note saying that original recordings are on your phone and available for forensic copying.
- Ask for the FIR. If the officer says the offence is not made out, ask him to record your complaint in the daily diary instead, and give you a copy.
- Take a receipt. Under Section 173(2) BNSS, the informant is entitled to a free copy of the FIR. Insist on it. A stamped acknowledgement of your written complaint is the next best thing if no FIR is registered.
- Keep a spare copy. One for the police, one signed and stamped for you, one scanned and emailed to yourself the same day.
If the abuse also came by WhatsApp or SMS, you can additionally file on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. That gives you a second, dated record outside the police station.
If the Police Do Not Register an FIR
This is the point where most people give up. There are two more doors.
First door — the Superintendent of Police
Under Section 173(4) BNSS, if the officer in charge refuses to record your information, you may send the substance of it in writing to the Superintendent of Police concerned. Send it by registered post or speed post, keep the postal receipt, and keep a copy. The SP can then either investigate the matter himself or direct a subordinate officer to do so.
Second door — the Magistrate
If that produces nothing, you can move the Judicial Magistrate under the BNSS provision that allows a Magistrate to direct an investigation — the successor to the old Section 156(3) CrPC route. This is a lawyer's application. It has to be drafted properly, supported by an affidavit, and it must attach the earlier complaints and the postal receipts. Courts look closely at whether you actually approached the police first, and proof of that approach is the postal receipt.
One honest caveat: these routes take time. Months, not weeks. If the calls are continuing and you feel the family is unsafe, say so plainly in the complaint, because urgency changes how a station responds.
What Evidence to Preserve
Everything in this case is documentary. There is no injury, no witness, no scene of occurrence. Preserve the following from day one:
- Call logs showing the number, date, time and duration of every call. Take screenshots as well as a screen recording, because logs can be cleared.
- Recordings. Start recording before you answer the next call. Keep the original audio file on the same device it was recorded on.
- Messages and voice notes, with the sender's number visible in the screenshot.
- A written diary of events in your own hand, noting the time of each call and what was said.
- The complaint you gave the telecom operator, or the report you made on the government's spam-reporting portal. This creates a third-party record that the calls existed before you ever went to the police.
When the matter reaches court, electronic records generally require a certificate in the form prescribed under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. This is a technical requirement and a common reason why otherwise solid cases get stuck at the evidence stage. Do not delete anything from the phone, and do not hand the phone over to anyone without a written acknowledgement.
We only have the complainant's side of the story here, and that matters. The defence will probe whether the calls were returned, whether there was an earlier dispute, whether the number belonged to someone known. Expect that. It does not destroy the case, but it is why the first written complaint has to be accurate rather than dramatic.
How Long Does It Take
There is no limitation period for reporting a cognizable offence, but delay is used against the complainant. Report within days, not months. Once an FIR is registered, the investigation itself commonly takes a few months, longer if subscriber details have to be obtained from a telecom company or if the number turns out to be registered in another state or in someone else's name. A trial, if the matter is contested, runs into years.
If You Are the Person Being Accused
Not everyone reading this is the complainant. If a complaint of this kind has been filed against you, the first thing to establish is your own call records, which will show whether the number in the complaint is even yours in the relevant period. Offences of simple criminal intimidation are generally bailable, so arrest is not automatic, but you should not treat a police notice casually. Appear when called, and take a lawyer with you.
Where the dispute is genuinely a family or matrimonial one dressed up as criminal intimidation, the High Court's inherent power to quash a proceeding is sometimes available. It is not a routine remedy and it depends heavily on the facts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I file a complaint if the abusive calls were made to my mother and not to me?
Yes. The person who suffered the abuse can complain, and a family member who is aware of the calls can also give the complaint and then support it with the victim's statement. The victim's own statement will be recorded at some stage, so it is better that she is involved in the process from the beginning.
Do I need a lawyer to file the complaint at the police station?
No. A written complaint in your own words is legally sufficient and costs nothing. A lawyer becomes important if the police refuse to register the FIR, if the case has to be taken to the Magistrate, or if the matter is contested later.
What if the SIM is registered in someone else's name?
That is a real problem for the investigation, but not an impossible one. Subscriber details, call detail records, and the device used can all be requisitioned. Where a SIM has been obtained on someone else's identity documents, offences under the Information Technology Act relating to identity theft may also come into play. Whether they apply depends on what the investigation uncovers.
Will I have to go to court?
If an FIR is registered and a charge-sheet is filed, yes — at least to give evidence. If the police close the matter or the parties settle, often not. Many of these cases end with the accused being identified and warned, which is frequently all the complainant wanted.
Can the calls be stopped in the meantime?
Practically, yes. Block the number, report it to your telecom operator, and use the government's spam and fraud reporting channels. Blocking stops the harassment; it does not stop the offence from having occurred, so do not block before you have preserved the logs.
What to Do Next
If this is happening to you or to someone in your family, the first three things are: write the complaint, take the printed logs and screenshots with you, and do not leave the police station without a receipt or a copy of the FIR.
If you want the complaint reviewed before you file it, or the police have already refused to register an FIR, send us the following. It takes two minutes and it saves a wasted trip.
- The written complaint you have prepared, or a two-line note of what happened.
- The call log or screenshots, with dates and times visible.
- The date of your visit to the police station, and any acknowledgement or diary entry you were given.
- Whether the calls are still continuing.
You can write to us at /contact-us or /book. Our chamber is at Lawyers' Chamber, Chamber No. 86, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi - 110001. Phone: +91 97295 06771. Email: me@sudhirrao.com. We handle criminal defence, cyber crime and economic offences.
On the facts as they stand, if an FIR has already been registered and the caller identified, there may be very little left to argue and you may not need to engage anyone at all. That is worth hearing before you spend money.
This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Every case turns on its own facts.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India
Facing a similar matter? Speak to a criminal lawyer in Delhi — Advocate Sudhir Rao appears in bail, trial and appellate matters before the Delhi District Courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.