Facebook harassment: complaint, evidence and the law

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

Not every unpleasant message on Facebook is a crime. People argue, insult each other and post things they regret. The law tolerates a great deal of that, and a complaint built on ordinary rudeness usually goes nowhere. What the law does not tolerate is a course of conduct designed to frighten you, damage your reputation, sexualise you without consent, or follow your movements online and offline. The line is drawn by the specific behaviour, not by how upset you feel.

The practical consequence is that your complaint has to be built on conduct, not adjectives. Instead of saying that someone harassed you on Facebook, describe what was posted, when, how often, to whom, and what it caused. Each of those details points to a different section, and a complaint that names the right section at the start is treated very differently at the police station from one that describes a general sense of being troubled.

Which section applies to which behaviour

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 replaced the Indian Penal Code for offences committed from 1 July 2024. For conduct before that date, the corresponding IPC provisions apply. The table below maps the common forms of Facebook harassment to the section a complainant should be thinking about. It is a starting point for a conversation with a lawyer or an officer, not a substitute for one.

Where the harassment targets a woman and involves photographs, there is an additional and more serious layer. Section 77 BNS 2023 covers voyeurism, and sections 78 and 79 deal with stalking and its aggravated forms. Where the material is a private image shared without consent, the IT Act provisions on obscene and sexually explicit material sit alongside those sections. Cases involving a child are governed by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, which has its own reporting duties and its own procedure.

Two procedural points decide how the case moves. Section 173 BNSS 2023 governs the recording of information at a police station. Where the offence is non-cognizable, the station cannot investigate without an order, and section 175(3) BNSS 2023 is the route by which a Magistrate can authorise investigation. Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 governs how the screenshots and the platform's records are proved when the matter reaches court.

Complaint, injunction or both

A criminal complaint aims at punishment. It does not, by itself, get a post removed or stop a person from posting again. A civil suit aims at stopping the conduct: an injunction restraining publication, a mandatory order to delete, and in a proper case damages for defamation. For many victims of sustained online abuse, the injunction is the remedy that actually changes daily life, and the criminal complaint is what creates the pressure behind it.

There is also the platform route. Under section 79 of the IT Act 2000 read with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, a significant social media intermediary must provide a grievance officer, acknowledge a complaint within twenty-four hours and resolve it within fifteen days. That channel removes content faster than any court, though it produces no finding against the person who posted it. Use all three where the abuse is serious, and keep the ticket references.

The steps, in order

1. Stop engaging and stop deleting. Do not reply, do not argue, and do not delete the messages. A reply can be used to suggest you participated willingly, and deletion destroys your evidence. Mute the person instead.
2. Capture the evidence properly. Take full-screen screenshots that show the profile name, the URL, the date and the time. Record a screen video scrolling through the conversation so the sequence cannot be disputed. Save the profile's current display name and photograph, because both change.
3. Use Meta's reporting and grievance channel. Report each post or message for harassment, bullying or impersonation as applicable. For serious cases, use the grievance officer route published under the 2021 Rules and keep the ticket number.
4. Write a chronology. One page: what was posted, on which date, at what time, on which profile or group, who saw it, and what happened to you as a result. Attach the screenshots as numbered exhibits.
5. Give a written complaint to the police. Go to the station with jurisdiction, hand over the complaint and exhibits, and ask for the receipt. If the offence is cognizable, information is recorded under section 173 BNSS 2023. If it is non-cognizable, the station will record it and seek an order, or you can apply to the Magistrate under section 175(3).
6. Report on cybercrime.gov.in. Use the social media category for harassment and impersonation, and the financial category if money was also demanded. The portal reference links your police complaint to a national record.
7. Apply for an injunction where the abuse is continuing. A civil suit for defamation and injunctive relief can be filed in the appropriate court. Interim applications can be moved quickly where the harm is ongoing, and courts do restrain publication of material found to be prima facie defamatory.
8. Follow up in writing. Ask the investigating officer for the case number and the status. Provide additional evidence as it appears. Keep a copy of every letter you send.

Evidence that actually persuades

Screenshots alone are weaker than most people assume. A screenshot can be edited, and a defence lawyer will say so. What strengthens the record is corroboration: the original device on which the messages were received, a screen recording made while the conversation is still live, the platform's own notification emails, and witnesses who saw the posts. Where the abuse happened in a group, other members are witnesses.

Preserve the metadata. Do not crop screenshots or annotate them so heavily that the interface is obscured. Keep the profile URL visible. If the person later deletes the account, your capture is the only proof the account existed, so back it up to a second location and to a cloud account you control.

If the harassment includes a demand for money, or a threat to publish private material unless you pay, the case changes character. That is extortion, and in the BNS 2023 the relevant provision is section 308, which covers extortion. A threat to publish a private image to compel payment should be reported immediately, and the 1930 helpline should be called in addition to filing the police complaint.

What decides the outcome

Context decides most of it. A single offensive message in an argument is treated very differently from a hundred messages over three weeks. Courts and officers look for a pattern: repetition, escalation, the use of multiple accounts, and whether the conduct continued after a request to stop. Build your chronology to show that pattern rather than listing individual insults.

Audience matters. A comment on your public post is publication to the world. A direct message to you alone is not defamation in the same sense, though it may be intimidation or harassment. Where the post was shared into groups or to your employer, the reputational element becomes far stronger.

Identity matters for the criminal case. Proving who operated the account requires subscriber records and IP logs obtained through lawful process. An anonymous profile slows the case considerably. Where the account is in the name of a real person who denies operating it, the investigation has to establish control rather than mere ownership.

The response of the platform matters too. If Meta removed the content on your complaint, that record supports your version. If it did not, the material remains available and the court can see it for itself.

Finally, your own conduct matters. If you replied with abuse of your own, the case becomes messier and the accused will use it. Staying silent after one clear request to stop is not weakness; it is good evidence.

What not to do

• Do not publish the person's details or organise a counter-campaign. That can expose you to a defamation claim and to platform penalties.
• Do not accept a settlement that requires you to delete your evidence before the money arrives.
• Do not file in multiple stations hoping one will act faster. Parallel complaints on the same facts invite a transfer and delay.
• Do not treat a takedown as the end. Removal does not prevent the same person from opening another profile.
• Do not let a first refusal at the station end the matter. The Magistrate route exists precisely for that situation.

Kolkata complainants usually deal with the district cyber crime unit for the portal-linked part and the local station for the FIR. Where an arrest follows, bail is heard before the Bankshall Court or the City Sessions Court, and anticipatory bail or quashing moves to the Calcutta High Court. That structure matters most to an accused person, but a complainant should know it too, because it explains why the sections named in the FIR are argued over at the bail stage.

When to involve a lawyer

If the harassment is a few messages from someone you know and it has stopped, a platform report and a police complaint may be enough. A lawyer helps when the conduct is sustained, when a false post is damaging your reputation or work, when you need an urgent injunction, when the police classify the offence as non-cognizable and will not investigate, or when you are the person accused and need to answer a complaint that misstates what you posted. The firm's approach is set out on the West Bengal cyber law page, and the practical guides on bail and criminal defence sit under criminal defense.

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.

Related articles

• Loan app harassment: evidence to preserve in 48 hours
• Harassment on YouTube: complaint, evidence and the law
• X (Twitter) harassment: complaint, evidence and the law
• WhatsApp harassment: complaint, evidence and the law
• Truecaller harassment: complaint, removal and the law
• LinkedIn harassment: complaint, evidence and the law

Cyber crime lawyer in your city · Bank account freeze help · Contact