DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

In a concerted effort to curb cybercrime, Haryana has witnessed a significant increase in public engagement, enforcement action, and financial recovery during the past few years.

Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Dr. Sumita Misra informed that 29 Cyber Crime Police Stations are already functional in the state and 3 new cyber crime police stations for East and Gohana zone in Sonipat and Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district are in the process of being set up.

She informed that the 1930 Cybercrime Helpline saw a surge in calls?from 1.45 lakh in 2022 to 7.25 lakh in 2024 ? indicating growing public awareness and responsiveness toward cyber threats.

Correspondingly, complaint registration rose to over 1.30 lakh cases in 2024 alone, up from 66,784 in 2022 and 1.15 lakh in 2023. Further, over 33,000 complaints have already been registered in the first 3 months of this year.

"Haryana is committed to making cyberspace safer for every citizen. Our focus on awareness, enforcement, and inter-agency coordination is yielding strong results," Dr. Sumita Misra said.

"We urge citizens to stay vigilant and report cyber frauds promptly by calling the 1930 helpline," she added.

The Additional Chief Secretary informed that while 1909 cybercriminals were arrested in 2023, the number grew substantially to 5,156 in 2024. Over 1900 cybercriminals have already been arrested in the first three months of 2025, with 21 persons being arrested per day this year on an average.

The hold and recovered amount from these cybercriminals has also seen a steep rise with Rs 268.40 crore being held and recovered in 2024, up from Rs 76.85 crore in 2023. Further, in the first 3 months of 2025, total Rs 34.73 crore have already been held and recovered, registering an improvement of 33.36% in March this year.

Dr. Sumita Misra said over 2.83 lakh bank accounts and 1.24 lakh mobile numbers were blocked in 2024, along with thousands more in 2025, including IMEI blocking to combat fraud.

(editor@dailyworld.in)