Digital Abuse Rises in Vidarbha: Inside The New Crime Frontier

thenewsdirt
Nov 12
9 min read

Vidarbha, a region in eastern Maharashtra, is witnessing a troubling new dimension of crime as the proliferation of smartphones and social media gives rise to digital abuse. Incidents that once occurred behind closed doors or in remote corners now often play out on screens.

In Nagpur, Vidarbha’s largest city, police have handled hundreds of cases of online harassment and exploitation in recent years.

A local counsellor’s arrest for blackmailing dozens of students using explicit photos shocked the community. In another case, a divorced woman was coerced through obscene videos saved on a perpetrator’s phone. These examples underscore how technology is being weaponised to threaten, humiliate, and harm.

Digital abuse in Vidarbha has swiftly emerged as a serious social menace, intertwining with existing patterns of violence and challenging law enforcement in new ways.

Rising Tide of Online Harassment in Vidarbha

The surge of internet access across Vidarbha has been accompanied by a spike in cyber-enabled crimes.

Nagpur’s dedicated cybercrime unit addressed 759 cases of harmful online content targeting women and children in a single recent year.

The cases involved instances of harassment, sexual exploitation, and abusive material circulating on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and even Telegram.

Police officials note that public vigilance and quicker reporting, through India’s National Cybercrime Portal, have helped in removing objectionable posts swiftly to prevent further harm. Yet the volume of incidents reflects only part of the problem. According to national data, reported online crimes against women jumped by 118% from 2020 to 2024 (22,188 cases in 2020 to 48,475 in 2024).

In 2022 alone, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) logged over 14,000 cases of cybercrimes against women, which observers believe is only a fraction of the true scale. In Maharashtra, Vidarbha’s home state, more than one in three cybercrime cases now involve female victims of stalking, blackmail, fake profiles or other online abuse. From 2018 to 2021, over 6,000 cyber offences against women were registered in Maharashtra, highlighting how the digital sphere has become a prominent front in gender-based violence.

What these numbers signify is that the threat to women and vulnerable groups is increasingly virtual as well as physical. Nagpur city alone saw 320 cases of molestation and hundreds of domestic abuse complaints in the first eight months of 2024, alongside the growing menace of online harassment. Police attribute some of the rise to better reporting mechanisms, for example, the introduction of e-FIR online complaint systems and women’s help desks in police stations, even in smaller Vidarbha towns.

Greater awareness has led many to come forward rather than suffer in silence. However, the ease of Internet connectivity has also opened new avenues for perpetrators.

Law enforcement officials in Vidarbha emphasise that anonymous social media profiles make it difficult to trace offenders who hurl threats or share illicit content from behind the safety of a screen. Each day, multiple women face cyberstalking or bullying via social media in Maharashtra, underlining that digital abuse has become distressingly routine.

The rising tide of online harassment in Vidarbha is not an outlier but part of a nationwide trend that demands urgent attention.

Forms of Digital Abuse and Notorious Cases

Digital abuse in Vidarbha takes many insidious forms, from online stalking of women to the non-consensual sharing of private images and outright cyber fraud.

One chilling illustration was the arrest of a 45-year-old Nagpur psychologist who preyed on students under the guise of running a personality development clinic.

Over 15 years, he photographed girls in compromising positions and stored the images on his phone to blackmail them into silence and compliance. This counsellor lured schoolgirls on “educational” trips where he would engage in sexual acts and secretly film them. Later, he threatened to expose these images to coerce the victims even after they had left his institute. The case, which only came to light when one brave survivor approached the police, revealed how technology was misused as a tool of prolonged abuse.

Investigators ultimately uncovered dozens of victims from across Vidarbha’s districts in this single case, making it one of the region’s most egregious instances of tech-enabled sexual exploitation.

More commonly, many victims face harassment on social media by acquaintances or strangers. Cyberstalking and morphing of images have become prevalent concerns. In Nagpur, police have dealt with numerous complaints of fake profiles being created to impersonate or defame women.

In one recent incident, a 30-year-old woman engineered a vicious campaign against a local businessman by creating fake Facebook and Instagram accounts in his name and posting morphed, obscene images of him and his wife. She then attempted to extort ₹50 lakh from the couple, promising to take down the defamatory content if paid.

The scheme was foiled when the victims involved law enforcement, leading to the perpetrator’s arrest on charges of extortion, blackmail and defamation. This case underscored that not only women and children are targets of digital abuse – anyone’s reputation and safety can be attacked via social media in the absence of adequate safeguards.

Another disturbing pattern is the use of intimate images or videos to blackmail women, often by people they initially trusted. In September 2025, a divorced woman in Nagpur reported that an acquaintance had obtained obscene videos of her and was using them to coerce sexual favours. She endured repeated assaults under the threat that these private clips would be made public.

This form of sexual blackmail, sometimes referred to as “revenge porn” or image-based abuse, has increasingly shown up in police blotters. It exemplifies how the boundaries of domestic and sexual violence have expanded.

An abuser can now leverage technology to exert control beyond physical proximity. Even in rural pockets of Vidarbha, similar crimes have surfaced. In Yavatmal district, for instance, police arrested a 31-year-old farmer in 2025 for harassing and publicly humiliating individuals online, demonstrating that digital abuse is not confined to the cities. Cases have ranged from ex-partners leaking personal photos to anonymous trolls sending women graphic threats on messaging apps.

Such offences leave deep psychological scars on victims, compounding the trauma of traditional abuse with the perpetual fear of public shaming on the internet.

Crucially, experts observe that perpetrators are often motivated by power, revenge or misogyny, and they exploit the anonymity that the internet provides. The ability to harass someone from behind a screen, sometimes under a fake name, emboldens these offenders. Police say many suspects operate multiple pseudonymous accounts to target their victims, which requires painstaking cyber-forensic work to unravel.

In Vidarbha, cyber cells in cities like Nagpur and Amravati have upgraded their technical capabilities, but keeping pace with tech-savvy harassers remains a challenge. The gamut of digital abuse now extends to deepfake pornography (AI-generated fake explicit images) and doxxing (publishing personal information to invite harassment), mirroring global trends. While such extreme cases are still emerging, the region is no stranger to these issues, given the availability of new technology.

Overall, the forms of digital abuse reported in Vidarbha cover a spectrum from constant texting and online stalking to egregious crimes like the Nagpur counsellor’s mass blackmail. Each case underscores that the online realm can facilitate real-world harm, blurring the line between virtual and physical abuse.

Challenges and Responses

Confronting digital abuse in Vidarbha presents unique challenges for law enforcement and society. One major hurdle is identifying and catching perpetrators who often hide behind encrypted apps or fake social media identities. Investigators in Nagpur note that complaints of online harassment trigger a multi-step response, first, reporting the abusive content to service providers and government channels to get it removed, and then tracing the source for criminal action.

The local cyber police work closely with the central Information Technology Ministry to take down posts nationwide once a complaint is verified.

However, tracking down an individual user requires technical expertise and time, especially if the person uses VPNs or foreign platforms. Police officials acknowledge that gathering digital evidence from global internet companies can be slow, and jurisdiction issues sometimes impede investigations.

Despite these difficulties, Vidarbha’s cybercrime teams have had notable successes in containing harm quickly, such as promptly removing morphed photos or blocking fake profiles before they go viral. This rapid response is crucial, as even a few hours can make a difference in limiting a victim’s humiliation online.

The legal framework to address online abuse is evolving. India’s Information Technology Act and related laws criminalise acts like transmitting obscene material, online stalking and voyeurism. New provisions in the forthcoming Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (the updated criminal code) also aim to tackle cyberstalking and sexual harassment explicitly. In practice, though, applying these laws can be complex.

Lawyers point out that convictions in cyber abuse cases remain low relative to the number of incidents. In Maharashtra, only a handful of cyberstalking cases resulted in convictions in the last few years, often due to evidentiary and procedural hurdles. To improve outcomes, police in regions like Vidarbha are receiving specialised training in handling electronic evidence.

State authorities have also proposed dedicated cybercrime courts to deal with the backlog of cases. As awareness grows, victims are increasingly using helplines like the national Cyber Crime Helpline (dial 1930) and online portals to report abuse, which can expedite police action. The Maharashtra Cyber Department has even conducted grassroots campaigns to educate the public.

In early 2020, it launched the “Cyber Safe Women” initiative, deploying police teams to schools and colleges across all districts to teach women and girls about cyber safety. This program, named in honour of social reformer Savitribai Phule, reflects an official recognition that combating online abuse requires not just policing but also prevention through awareness.

On the ground in Vidarbha, efforts are underway to bridge the urban-rural gap in dealing with digital crimes. Cities like Nagpur and Amravati now have cyber cells with dedicated officers, and public outreach is increasing. Nagpur Police, for instance, publicise their cyber achievements and encourage people to report incidents without shame.

They have also set up women’s help desks at every police station to provide a welcoming point of contact for female complainants. These steps have lowered some barriers. Several women who faced harassment on social media have approached the police directly in recent months, something that might have been rare a few years ago. However, in smaller towns and villages of Vidarbha, many cases still go unreported.

Social stigma and lack of digital literacy mean that victims often do not know how to seek help or fear they will be blamed for the abuse. Community elders sometimes advise young women to ignore online harassment or to stay off social media rather than involve the authorities. In conservative rural settings, the disclosure of a morphed photo or a threatening message can be met with pressure to keep it quiet to “protect family honour.”

These attitudes echo the broader societal challenges seen with offline gender violence. To counter this, NGOs and police have started conducting legal awareness camps in parts of Vidarbha, explaining that acts like cyberstalking, blackmail or sharing someone’s private images without consent are crimes that can be punished. Yet, reaching remote areas and overcoming distrust of institutions is an ongoing process.

Despite the initiatives, gaps remain in fully curbing digital abuse. The Damini Squad in Nagpur (a special patrol for women’s safety) has highlighted how stretched resources are when dealing with both street crimes and online threats. Similarly, while mapping of physical “unsafe zones” in cities is being done, the invisible nature of cyber threats makes them harder to preempt.

Law enforcement officers stress that a more proactive approach is needed: educating youth about responsible online behaviour, encouraging families to speak up when incidents occur, and collaborating with tech platforms to filter and respond to local complaints quickly.

Public awareness is slowly improving, and local media now regularly reports on cybercrime cases, which has helped reduce the stigma of victims coming forward. The conversation has shifted from “Why was she on that app?” towards holding the perpetrator accountable. Each arrest, whether it’s a blackmailer in Nagpur or a harasser in a Yavatmal village, sends a message that digital actions have real consequences.

Digital abuse has firmly entrenched itself as a new frontier of crime in Vidarbha, transforming how abuse is perpetrated and experienced. What happens on a smartphone screen can shatter lives in the real world, as women and communities in this region are discovering. The scourge of online harassment and exploitation adds another layer to the challenges faced in a place already grappling with social issues.

Yet, it has also prompted a determined response, from tech-savvy police interventions to grassroots awareness drives. The struggle is far from over.

Every removed post and every conviction is met with new tactics by offenders, and many victims are still suffering out of sight.

But the very act of bringing digital abuse to light in Vidarbha marks progress. It signals that society will no longer dismiss cyberstalking or image-based blackmail as trivial.

As Vidarbha moves deeper into the digital age, the safety of its most vulnerable will depend on vigilance, education, and an unyielding commitment to ensuring that technology is not misused as a tool of terror. In making the online realm safer, the region takes a crucial step toward protecting the dignity and security of all its people in the virtual world and beyond.