In short. Report the content to the platform through its intimate-image complaint form; under the IT Rules, in force with the 2026 amendment, it must remove it within two hours. File on cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930, and lodge an FIR under section 66E of the IT Act and the relevant BNS sections. If content keeps reappearing, the High Court can order platforms and search engines to block it.
This is one of the most distressing things that can happen to a person online, and the first hours matter. The law is clearer than many people think. Consent to a photo or video being taken, or to sending it to one person, is not consent to it being shared with anyone else. The person who shares it commits an offence, and the platform hosting it has a legal duty to take it down fast. You do not need to prove anything to a platform beyond identifying the content and yourself.
This post covers what to do: the takedown, the police complaint, search engines, repeat uploads, AI-made and morphed images, and court orders. If someone is threatening to share images unless you pay or do something, read our post on sextortion and video blackmail as well. If the problem is a fake profile using your photos, see fake profile and impersonation takedowns. Our wider work for complainants and accused in such cases is described on the page on sexual harassment and sexual offence cases.
- Platform deadline
- Removal within 2 hours of complaint (IT Rules, 2026 amendment)
- Report online
- cybercrime.gov.in or the 1930 helpline
- Main offences
- IT Act s.66E, 67, 67A; BNS s.77 voyeurism, s.78, s.79, s.308
- Consent to capture
- Is not consent to share (Explanation to s.77 BNS)
- If platform fails
- Grievance Appellate Committee, or writ in the High Court
- Under 18
- POCSO Act applies; do not save or forward the content
How do I get intimate images removed quickly?
Report each post or link directly to the platform first, because that is the fastest route to removal. Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, X, YouTube, Telegram, Snapchat and most adult sites have a specific reporting option for intimate images shared without consent, separate from ordinary ‘report post’ buttons. Use that option, say that the content shows you and was shared without your consent, and give the link. You can also write to the platform's Grievance Officer, whose contact details every intermediary must publish.
Rule 3(2)(b) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 requires a platform to remove or disable access to content that exposes a person's private area, shows them in full or partial nudity or in a sexual act, or impersonates them including through morphed images, once the person or someone acting on their behalf complains. The time limit was 24 hours. The amendment to the IT Rules notified in February 2026, in force from 20 February 2026, cut it to two hours from receipt of the complaint.
At the same time, file a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in, the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, under the section for crimes against women and children, or call 1930. The portal complaint goes to the police and to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, which works with platforms on removal and keeps a bank of hash values of reported content so copies can be blocked. Then decide on an FIR, which is discussed below.
Steps to get intimate images taken down
Do these in order, on the same day if you can. Ask a trusted friend or family member to help with the steps that involve looking at the content, so you do not have to do it alone.
Record the links, not the images
Note the URL of every post, profile, group or page, the platform, the account name and the date and time you saw it. A screenshot of the page with the link and date visible is useful, but do not download or forward the images themselves more than needed.
Report on each platform
Use the platform's non-consensual intimate image form for every link. Keep the acknowledgement emails or ticket numbers. If there is no form, write to the Grievance Officer by email with the links.
File on cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930
Give the links, the accounts, and what you know about who shared them. Save the acknowledgement number; police and courts will refer to it.
Go to the police for an FIR
Approach the cyber police station or local police station with a written complaint, the links and the acknowledgement numbers. You can ask for a woman officer to record your statement.
Use a hashing tool for repeat uploads
Adults can use StopNCII.org, run by a UK charity with major platforms as partners, which creates a hash of the image on your own device without uploading the image. For a person under 18, the Take It Down service run by the US child-safety body NCMEC does the same.
Escalate if content stays up
If the platform does not act, appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee within 30 days of the Grievance Officer's decision, or approach the High Court for an order directing removal and blocking.
Look after yourself
Tell someone you trust. One Stop Centres in every district offer legal, medical and counselling support to women. You are not responsible for what someone else did with your images.
What does the law require platforms to do?
Platforms (intermediaries) get protection from liability for user content under section 79 of the IT Act only if they follow the due diligence rules. For intimate images and impersonation, that means removing the content within two hours of the complaint, having a working complaint mechanism that lets the person give details or the link, and preserving the information for investigation. A platform that fails risks losing its safe harbour, which exposes it to liability under the law for the content it hosts.
The 2026 amendment also cut the general time for resolving grievances to seven days, and the time for acting on lawful orders from the government or a court to three hours. Significant social media platforms (above five million users in India) have extra duties. Under the Standard Operating Procedure on non-consensual intimate imagery that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued on 11 November 2025, they are expected to use hash-matching and crawler tools to stop re-uploads of content that has been reported and removed.
If the Grievance Officer rejects your complaint or does not decide it, you can appeal to a Grievance Appellate Committee set up by the government, within 30 days, through its online portal. In practice, for intimate images, many people go straight to the police and, if needed, the High Court, because the content is spreading and every hour matters.
Where to report and what each route does
| Where | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Platform's intimate image form or Grievance Officer | Removal within two hours of complaint under the IT Rules | First, for every link, immediately |
| cybercrime.gov.in or 1930 | Complaint to police and I4C; hash bank to block copies | Same day, alongside the platform reports |
| Cyber or local police station | FIR, investigation, identifying the uploader, arrest where needed | Same day or as soon as you are ready |
| StopNCII.org or Take It Down | Hash of the image shared with partner platforms to block uploads | When you fear wider or repeated sharing |
| Search engine removal request | De-listing of the links from search results | When the images appear in search for your name |
| Grievance Appellate Committee | Appeal against a platform's refusal or silence | Within 30 days of the Grievance Officer's decision |
| High Court under Article 226 | Order to platforms, search engines and the government to remove and block | When content keeps coming back or platforms do not act |
Should I file an FIR, and what happens at the police station?
Yes, in most cases. An FIR does three things a platform complaint cannot: it starts an investigation to identify the person who shared the images, it lets the police send legal requests to platforms and telecom companies for account and IP details, and it creates the record a court will rely on if you later need an order. Sharing intimate images without consent is a cognizable offence, so the police must register the FIR. In Delhi, each police district has a cyber police station; in Noida and Ghaziabad there are dedicated cyber crime police stations, and any local police station must also accept the complaint.
Where the complaint is by a woman about offences such as voyeurism or stalking, the information should be recorded by a woman police officer under the provisos to section 173 BNSS. You can ask for this. A point Advocate B.K. Singh often makes to clients is that the written complaint should say plainly that the images were shared without consent, even if they were taken or sent with consent, because that one sentence is what brings in section 66E of the IT Act and the Explanation to section 77 BNS. You can also file an e-FIR or a zero FIR at any police station, which is then transferred to the station with jurisdiction; see our post on zero FIR and e-FIR. If the police refuse to register the FIR, the remedies are a complaint to the senior officer and then an application to the magistrate under section 175(3) BNSS, covered in police refusing to register your FIR.
In Mrs X v Union of India (2023), the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi Police to register a formal complaint promptly on receiving information about such content, and asked each district cyber police station to have an officer to coordinate with platforms. You may also be asked to give a statement before a magistrate under section 183 BNSS. The investigation may take time, but the takedown process does not wait for it.
The offences that apply when intimate images are shared
The police choose sections based on the facts. These are the ones most often used.
Section 66E, IT Act
Capturing, publishing or transmitting an image of a private area of any person without consent, in circumstances violating privacy. Up to three years, or fine up to ₹2 lakh, or both. It applies to victims of any gender.
Sections 67 and 67A, IT Act
Publishing or transmitting obscene material (s.67) or sexually explicit material (s.67A) in electronic form. Section 67A carries up to five years on first conviction and is non-bailable.
Section 77, BNS (voyeurism)
Watching or capturing the image of a woman in a private act, or disseminating such an image. The Explanation makes it clear that where she consented to the capture but not to dissemination, the dissemination is an offence. One to three years on first conviction, three to seven on a second.
Sections 78 and 79, BNS
Stalking, including monitoring a woman's use of the internet or email, and words, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman, which covers sending or exhibiting such material.
Sections 308, 351 and 356, BNS
Extortion where images are used to demand money or anything else; criminal intimidation where there are threats; and defamation where the images are posted with false or damaging claims.
Sections 13 to 15, POCSO Act and s.67B, IT Act
Where the person shown is under 18: using a child for, and storing or transmitting, sexual material involving a child. Storing such material without deleting or reporting it is itself an offence, and anyone who knows of it must report it to the police.
What if the images are fake, morphed or made with AI?
The same takedown rule applies. Rule 3(2)(b) of the IT Rules expressly covers impersonation in electronic form, including artificially morphed images, and the 2026 amendment brought synthetically generated content, often called deepfakes, clearly within the platforms' duties. A platform must remove a sexually explicit deepfake or morphed image of you within two hours of your complaint, just as it would a real image. You do not have to prove the image is fake to get it removed.
For the criminal case, the sections may differ. A morphed image may be charged under sections 66C or 66D of the IT Act (identity theft or impersonation), section 67 or 67A, section 79 BNS, and defamation under section 356 BNS, with forgery sections where an image is fabricated to harm reputation. If the fake is being used to threaten or demand money, extortion under section 308 BNS applies. Say clearly in the complaint that the image is morphed or AI-generated, and keep any original photo of yours from which it was made, because a forensic examiner can often show the manipulation.
AI-made images are spreading faster than any other kind of intimate abuse, and they target people who never took or shared any such picture. If this has happened to you, there is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing you did wrong. The legal tools are the same as for real images, and the platforms now have no room to say they need time to check.
How do I stop the images coming back, and get them out of search results?
Repeat uploads are the hardest part. Once an image has spread, it can be re-posted from different accounts, on different sites, sometimes for months. Three tools help. Hash-based blocking through StopNCII.org or the government's hash bank lets partner platforms detect and block the same image automatically. Search engines, including Google, have their own forms to remove non-consensual explicit images from search results for your name. And a court order can direct platforms and search engines to remove all copies, not just the links you managed to find.
In Mrs X v Union of India, decided on 26 April 2023, the Delhi High Court laid down directions for such cases. It asked search engines to use hash-matching technology, said victims should not have to keep finding and re-reporting every URL for content already ordered down, and allowed the victim to give the links and keywords in a sealed cover to protect her privacy. The search engines later sought a review of the directions on proactive removal, so the exact scope of what they must do on their own may vary from case to case. The court's approach, that the burden should not keep falling on the victim, is the starting point for any petition.
A writ petition under Article 226 in the Delhi High Court, against the Union of India, the platforms and the search engines, is the usual route when content keeps returning. The court can be asked to let you appear as ‘X’, to keep the papers sealed, and to order removal within a short time. Our post on writ petitions in the Delhi High Court explains the procedure.
How should I keep evidence without spreading the images further?
Record where the content is, not the content itself. For each instance, note the URL, the platform, the account name or handle, the account's profile link, the date and time, and the number of views or shares if shown. Take a screenshot of the page showing the URL and date; you do not need to download the video or save the image in your gallery. Keep the platform's acknowledgement emails, ticket numbers and replies, and your cybercrime.gov.in acknowledgement.
If you know who shared it, keep the chats, emails or messages in which the images were sent to them, any threat to share, and anything showing they had access. Do not delete those conversations, even though it may be tempting. For the court case, these records will need a certificate under section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam; our post on electronic evidence and the Section 63 BSA certificate explains how that is done.
Do not send the images to friends ‘for evidence’, or to the police by ordinary WhatsApp, or post about them asking people to report. Each copy is another copy. The police can obtain the content from the platform with a legal request, and the court can inspect it in a sealed form.
What to keep for the complaint and the case
About the content
- List of URLs with platform and account names
- Screenshots of each page showing URL and date
- Platform complaint acknowledgements and ticket numbers
- cybercrime.gov.in acknowledgement number
- Any replies or refusals from platforms
About the person responsible
- Chats, emails or messages in which images were sent or threatened
- Phone numbers, profile links and usernames used
- Any messages admitting the sharing
- Names of people who received the images, if known
- Earlier complaints, if any
About you
- ID proof for the complaint
- Original photos from which a morphed image was made
- Written complaint to the police, with receipt
- FIR copy and any statement recorded
- Medical or counselling records, if relevant to compensation
Someone is threatening to share my images. What should I do?
Do not pay and do not send more images or money to buy time. A demand for money, more images or a meeting in return for not sharing is extortion under section 308 BNS, and paying almost always leads to further demands. Stop replying, keep the messages, and report the account to the platform and on cybercrime.gov.in. Our post on sextortion calls and video blackmail covers this situation step by step.
Threats from someone you know, such as a former partner, are different from scam sextortion by strangers. The person usually has real images and real knowledge of your contacts. An FIR under sections 351 (criminal intimidation) and 308 BNS, and section 66E of the IT Act if anything has been shared, is usually the right step. Telling one or two trusted people in advance can take away much of the threat's power, because the person loses the element of surprise.
What if the person is a former partner, spouse or colleague?
If the person sharing or threatening is a husband, former husband, live-in partner or a relative you shared a household with, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 gives you an additional civil route. A magistrate can pass a protection order under section 18 of that Act prohibiting the person from committing domestic violence and from attempting to communicate with you in any form, including electronic contact, and can award compensation for emotional distress. These orders can be obtained faster than a criminal trial ends; see our post on protection orders under the Domestic Violence Act.
If the person is a colleague, sharing intimate images or threatening to is sexual harassment at the workplace under the POSH Act 2013. You can complain to the Internal Committee within three months, alongside any police complaint; see our post on the POSH complaint process. In matrimonial disputes, images are sometimes threatened as a bargaining chip in a settlement. That does not make the threat any less an offence, and it should be reported, not negotiated around.
What if the person in the images is under 18?
Then the POCSO Act 2012 and section 67B of the IT Act apply, and the steps change. Report to the police or on cybercrime.gov.in at once; under section 19 of POCSO anyone who knows of such an offence must report it. Do not save, screenshot or forward the content, even to show the police or the school, because storing or transmitting sexual material involving a child is itself an offence under section 15 of POCSO, except for the purpose of reporting it to the authorities. Give the police the links and let them collect the content.
For the young person, use Take It Down to create hashes so platforms can block the images, and contact the platform's child safety reporting channel. Cases are heard by special POCSO courts with child-friendly procedures, and the child's identity must be protected. If the person who shared the images is also a minor, as often happens with school students, the matter goes to the Juvenile Justice Board. Parents should speak to the school, but should not let the school handle it instead of the police.
A made-up example: images posted after a break-up
Here's a made-up example. A 26-year-old woman working in Noida ends a relationship. A week later a friend tells her that a private video she had sent her former partner has been posted on a Telegram channel and on two adult websites, with her first name and city. She is shaken and does not want to look at the content.
Her sister notes every link and takes screenshots of the pages without opening the video. They report each link through the sites' non-consensual content forms and write to Telegram's abuse contact. She files on cybercrime.gov.in under the women and children section, uses StopNCII to create a hash of the video from her own phone, and goes to the cyber crime police station with a written complaint and the old chats in which she sent the video to him. An FIR is registered under section 66E of the IT Act and sections 77 and 79 BNS, and her statement is recorded by a woman officer. Two of the three links are down within hours.
The video reappears on a new site two weeks later. Because the FIR, the acknowledgement numbers and the earlier removals are all on record, her lawyer files a writ petition in the Delhi High Court in which she is named only as ‘X’, seeking directions to the platforms, search engines and the Ministry to remove and block all copies. The police investigation of her former partner continues separately.
Mistakes to avoid
- Waiting to see if it spreads. Every hour adds copies. Report the same day, even if you are not ready for a police complaint.
- Saving or forwarding the images as proof. Record links and screenshots of pages instead, and let the police obtain the content.
- Confronting the person publicly. A public post can spread the content further and invite counter-complaints. Report and let the process work.
- Paying to stop sharing. It rarely works and leads to further demands.
- Deleting your own chats with the person. They may be the evidence that links the images to him or her.
- Accepting a refusal from a platform. If the content shows you and was shared without consent, the rule is clear. Escalate to the Grievance Appellate Committee or the court.
Will my identity be protected during the case?
Courts take privacy seriously in these cases. In writ petitions about intimate images, the Delhi High Court routinely allows the petitioner to be named as ‘X’ and keeps the links and keywords in a sealed cover. The Supreme Court's 2017 privacy judgment (Puttaswamy) recognised the right to privacy as part of Article 21, and courts have applied it to intimate images. Section 72 BNS makes it an offence to disclose the identity of victims of rape and certain other sexual offences, and courts extend similar protection in related cases. You can ask for proceedings to be held in camera.
The police and the court will need to see the content to deal with the case, but they do so in sealed form and only as far as needed. Where an accused asks for a copy of intimate material relied on by the prosecution, courts may allow only inspection, not a copy, to protect the victim. Under section 396 BNSS, victims of crime can also apply for compensation under the state's victim compensation scheme, through the legal services authority.
What to do today and this week
- Ask a trusted person to help you list every link and take page screenshots
- Report every link through the platform's intimate image form
- File on cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 and save the acknowledgement
- Create a hash through StopNCII.org (or Take It Down for under 18s)
- Keep, do not delete, chats with the person you believe shared the images
- Go to the cyber police station with a written complaint and ask for an FIR
- Ask search engines to remove the links from results for your name
- Speak to a lawyer about a High Court petition if content keeps reappearing
Getting help, and when a lawyer is needed
Many takedowns succeed through the platform forms and the portal alone, within hours. A lawyer becomes necessary when platforms do not respond, when content keeps returning on new sites, when the police are slow to register or investigate, when you need a protection order against a partner, or when you need a court order to block content across the internet. A lawyer also helps if you are the person accused, because these cases can be filed falsely in personal disputes, and the defence then turns on the same electronic evidence.
In matters of this kind that come to Advocate B.K. Singh's office, the first thing he asks for is the list of links and the acknowledgement numbers, because the speed of a court order depends on showing that the platform and the police were told and what they did. If you prefer, the first conversation can be with Advocate Sadhna Singh. Our firm handles these cases as part of its cyber crime practice and its work on cyber laws, from the Dwarka and Vaishali offices. You can write to us in confidence through our online enquiry form; you do not need to send the images, only a description and the links.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a platform have to remove intimate images in India?
Under the IT Rules as amended in February 2026, a platform must remove or disable access to intimate images within two hours of receiving a complaint from the person shown or someone acting for them. Before the amendment, the limit was 24 hours.
Is it a crime to share someone's private photos without consent if they sent them to you?
Yes. Section 66E of the IT Act punishes publishing or transmitting such images without consent, and the Explanation to section 77 BNS says consent to capture an image is not consent to disseminate it. The fact that the victim sent the image does not make sharing it lawful.
Can I get intimate images removed without filing an FIR?
Yes. Platforms must act on your complaint through their reporting form or Grievance Officer whether or not there is an FIR. An FIR is still advisable to identify the person responsible and to support any later court order.
Can I report intimate images anonymously?
The cybercrime.gov.in portal has a section for crimes against women and children, and some reports can be made without full identification. For an FIR and court action you will need to identify yourself, but your identity can be protected in court records.
What if the platform does not remove the content?
Write to the Grievance Officer, then appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee within 30 days. If content stays up or keeps coming back, a writ petition in the High Court can obtain orders against platforms, search engines and the government.
Are morphed or deepfake intimate images covered?
Yes. The IT Rules cover impersonation including morphed images, and the 2026 amendment covers synthetically generated content. A platform must remove a sexually explicit deepfake of you within two hours of your complaint, and the criminal law applies too.
Should I keep copies of the images as evidence?
Keep the links and screenshots of the pages showing the URL and date, not the images themselves. The police can obtain the content from the platform, and spreading copies, even to friends for help, adds to the harm.
What is StopNCII and is it safe to use?
StopNCII.org is a tool run by a UK charity that creates a digital fingerprint, called a hash, of an intimate image on your own device and shares only that hash with partner platforms so they can block uploads. The image itself is not uploaded. It is for adults; Take It Down serves those under 18.
Which law applies if the images are of someone under 18?
The POCSO Act and section 67B of the IT Act apply. Report to the police at once and do not save or forward the content, because storing or transmitting such material is itself an offence except when reporting to the authorities.
Can I get compensation for intimate images shared without consent?
You can apply under the victim compensation scheme under section 396 BNSS through the legal services authority, and courts can award compensation in a criminal case. A civil suit for damages for breach of privacy, or compensation under the Domestic Violence Act against a partner, may also be possible.
Will my name appear in court records?
Courts usually allow the victim to be named as X and keep the links in a sealed cover. You can ask for in camera proceedings, and the police and court handle the content in sealed form.
What punishment can the person who shared the images face?
Section 66E of the IT Act carries up to three years or a fine up to ₹2 lakh, section 67A up to five years on first conviction, and voyeurism under section 77 BNS one to three years on first conviction. Extortion, stalking and intimidation charges can be added depending on the facts.
Written and reviewed at B.K. Singh & Associates
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M., with more than twenty years of practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district courts and tribunals across Delhi NCR. This article explains the general law as of 24 October 2026; it is not legal advice on your facts.