One of
One of the envelopes had a police station stamp on it
The call usually comes from a number nobody recognises, or a registered envelope with a police station stamp. Either way the content is the same: appear at this police station, on this date, in connection with a complaint. The person on the other end has no idea what the complaint is about.
Sometimes they sold a phone on an online marketplace six months ago and the buyer later claimed fraud. Sometimes an account was opened in their name, or they lent their account to a cousin who needed to receive a payment. Sometimes they have genuinely never heard of the person who complained. And sometimes they did do something, and they are deciding how much of that to say.
We only have one side of these accounts. But the questions are identical every time, and they have answers.
What does a notice under Section 35(3) BNSS mean?
Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 replaced what used to be Section 41A of the old Criminal Procedure Code. It allows a police officer to issue a written notice directing a person against whom a complaint has been made, or against whom credible information exists, to appear before the officer.
Three things follow from that wording, and they matter.
- It is not an FIR. A notice under Section 35(3) can be issued before or after an FIR under Section 173 BNSS, but the notice itself is not the registration of a case.
- It is not an arrest. The whole point of the provision is to avoid arresting someone for a routine appearance. The officer has to record reasons in writing if he decides arrest is necessary.
- You are being treated as a suspect, not a witness. The language covers people against whom a complaint has been made. If the police wanted you only as a witness, the notice would say so.
Cyber crime notices usually attach a bare complaint — money moved from a complainant's account to yours, or your number appeared in a call detail record, or your UPI handle was used. That attachment is the entire case against you at this stage. It is often thinner than it looks, and occasionally it is not thin at all.
Do you actually have to go?
Yes. Ignoring a Section 35(3) notice is not a neutral act. The officer can record your non-compliance and then seek a warrant, or treat your absence as reason enough to arrest you. People who skip the first appearance end up spending far more money and far more time than the appearance itself would have cost.
That said, you do not have to go alone, and you do not have to go on the date printed on the notice if a genuine difficulty exists. Officers routinely agree to a short postponement when the request comes in advance, in writing, and through a lawyer. What they do not like is silence followed by an explanation three weeks later.
Can you be arrested when you appear?
For offences punishable with less than three years, Section 35 BNSS pushes the officer towards notice rather than arrest, with conditions attached. Many cyber crime offences carry longer sentences than that, so the protection is not automatic. Whether arrest follows usually depends on the amount involved, whether you are alleged to be part of a group, and whether the investigating officer believes evidence will be destroyed.
This is the one place where I would not give a general answer. It turns on facts the notice does not contain, and on the practice of the particular police station. If arrest is a real possibility, that should be assessed before you walk in, not after.
What to do in the first 48 hours
Read the notice twice and write down the exact section mentioned, the police station, the officer's name and designation, and the date of appearance. Photograph the envelope and the notice. If a complaint is attached, read the complaint, not just the notice — the complaint is what you are answering.
Then gather paper: bank statements for the period mentioned, your KYC documents for the account or SIM or UPI handle in question, and anything that explains the transaction. If you sold something, find the listing, the chat, the courier receipt. If the account was not yours, find the account opening form or a written complaint you may have already made about misuse.
What to carry when you go
- The original notice, and a photocopy to hand over.
- Photo identification.
- The documents above, in two sets. One for the officer, one for you.
- A written note of what you know, in plain language, dated and signed. Hand over a copy; keep the original.
Do not hand over your phone or its passcode voluntarily. Do not sign a statement you have not read. If you are asked to write something in the officer's notebook in the officer's words, ask to write it in your own.
When anticipatory bail enters the picture
If the notice mentions an offence serious enough that arrest is realistic, an application for anticipatory bail under Section 482 BNSS is filed before the Sessions Court or the High Court, depending on the forum that has jurisdiction. The application is usually filed before the date of appearance, so that you can appear protected rather than appear and hope.
How long this takes varies badly. In some districts it is listed within days. In others, the first listing itself takes a week or more, and the police are heard before any order is passed. Anyone who tells you a fixed timeline is guessing.
If arrest happens first, regular bail under Section 480 BNSS is the route, and the same documents are what the court will look at. Either way, the quality of the paper you bring decides more than the length of the argument.
Where electronic records fit
Almost everything in a cyber crime case is electronic — call records, bank ledgers, server logs, chat histories. Under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, electronic records are proved by a certificate, and courts have repeatedly sent cases back when that certificate was missing or mechanically filled. It is the most common technical defect in these prosecutions, and it is worth asking early whether the records against you were certified at all.
Do not assume the bank statement the police are relying on is accurate simply because it came from a bank. Reconciliation errors in these cases are common, and they are usually discovered only when somebody actually adds up the figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
I received a police notice for a cyber crime complaint. Should I attend on my own or through a lawyer?
Attend. The question is only whether you attend with a lawyer present. In most cases a lawyer accompanying you to the police station is useful for a simple reason: it stops the conversation from drifting into areas the notice does not cover. You are not obliged to answer questions about transactions the complaint does not mention.
The transaction in the complaint is genuine. Does that mean I am safe?
Not necessarily. A genuine transaction can still be part of a fraud if the money came from a victim's account without that victim's knowledge. What matters is whether you knew, or had reason to believe, that the money was not the payer's to send. That is a question of facts and it is what the investigation will be built around.
My bank account has been frozen over the same complaint. What now?
Ask the bank in writing for the freezing order or the communication it received, including the police station and the reference number. Then approach the investigating officer, or move the appropriate court, for defreezing. Banks typically will not act without instructions from the investigating agency, so the letter to the bank is mostly to establish a record.
I missed the date on the notice. Is it too late?
No, but act immediately. Send a written request for a fresh date through a lawyer, acknowledge the earlier notice, and give a reason. Police officers deal with this constantly. What they react badly to is an unexplained disappearance.
Will this show up in a background check or on a visa application?
Not for a notice alone. It becomes relevant at the stage of a chargesheet or a court case. If the matter is still at the notice stage, the honest answer is that nothing has been recorded against you yet, and how it ends depends on what the investigation finds.
This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Facts differ, and so do courts.
If you have received a notice of this kind, send the notice itself, a photograph of the envelope if the date of receipt matters, and a two-line note saying what you understand the complaint to be about. That is enough for a first look at whether there is anything to answer. You can write in through /contact-us or book a slot at /book. On these facts there may be nothing to argue at all — and if that is the case, you should be told so quickly rather than billed for a defence you do not need.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India