Digital Dowry: The New Face of Post-Marriage Abuse in India

By Dark Crime Diaries | Investigative Crime Report | August 2025

Why this matters now

Marriages in India have always carried financial pressure; the dowry tradition, though illegal, still shadows many households. Now, a new and more insidious form has emerged: Digital Dowry in India. Armed with smartphones, apps, and payment platforms, some husbands and in-laws are turning matrimonial homes into surveillance zones and digital prisons.

During the pandemic, when arranged marriages shifted to Zoom calls and WhatsApp chats, an opportunity arose not just for love, but for control. Today, “gift” demands are sometimes cloaked in the language of “family sharing,” but the gravity is different. This article exposes how dowry abuse is morphing into a hybrid crime and offers real-world insights, clear legal paths for protection, and a call to action.

What exactly is “Digital Dowry”?

Think of “digital dowry” as a hybrid crime. Traditional pressure for gifts/cash after marriage (illegal under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961) merges with digital surveillance or financial control. The tools include:

• Phone snooping & stalkerware: Secret apps that track calls, messages, location, mic/camera.
• Account takeover & OTP coercion: Forced sharing of phone unlocks, UPI PINs, email passwords.
• Payment-rail abuse: Unauthorised transfers, fake loans, or EMI purchases in her name.
• Image-based abuse: Threatening to leak private photos to extort “contributions.”
• Always-on monitoring: Demanding live locations, scanning chats, or reading cloud backups.

Stalkerware definitions are clear: it’s covert software enabling a third party to monitor a device. Global security telemetry has tracked tens of thousands of affected users annually, with India regularly among high-incidence countries.

How the marriage journey went online and why control got easier

Lockdowns normalised digital matchmaking, video-first courtship, and even full online ceremonies. Platforms and families adapted: “weddings from home,” priests on video calls, and WhatsApp-based rituals. Once relationships and rituals moved to screens, surveillance opportunities multiplied phones became the chokepoint for social, financial, and emotional life.

Two things followed:

1. Access: Spouses and in-laws gained routine access to devices “for convenience” to pay bills, book tickets, and manage family groups, making password sharing feel normal.
2. Leverage: If a woman resisted new demands (gifts, gold, cash “for business,” upgrades), digital traces, photos, chats, and contacts could be misused to shame, threaten, or isolate her.

The scale behind the screen: what the data shows

Abuse within marriage remains the single biggest category of crimes against women

“Cruelty by husband or his relatives” (IPC §498A) consistently forms the largest share of crimes against women in NCRB records. In 2022, this category alone accounted for roughly a third of all such cases nationally. That persistence means any new digital layer will land on top of an already large base.

Domestic violence reporting spiked during lockdowns

The National Commission for Women received 5,300+ complaints of domestic violence in 2020, up from about 2,960 in 2019; complaints remained high in 2021. Multiple studies also tie stricter local lockdown intensity to higher domestic-violence complaints. This matters because tech-enabled control often begins as “safety” monitoring and drifts into abuse.

Cybercrime and digital payment fraud accelerated with mass adoption

As India embraced real-time payments, fraud on card/internet channels soared in count (even though values shifted between years). RBI data show digital-payment-related frauds surged in FY2023–24; Finance Ministry and industry summaries flagged an ~85% rise in UPI fraud incidents year-on-year. Even when the total value later fell or stabilised, the number of low-ticket digital frauds stayed high, exactly the pattern exploited inside homes: repeated, small, hard-to-prove thefts from a spouse’s accounts.

Stalkerware remains a live threat vector for intimate-partner abuse

Security reports document tens of thousands of unique users hit by stalkerware globally each year, with India frequently among the top countries where such apps are detected, reinforcing how ordinary phones can be weaponised at home.

How “digital dowry” typically unfolds (composite scenarios)

1. The “password as proof” test
   A bride is asked to share her phone passcode “to build trust.” Soon, her WhatsApp backups are read, her Instagram DMs policed, and old photos are used as leverage to demand money from her family “to keep peace.” Stalkerware quietly records calls and location. Under Indian law, covert monitoring can trigger offences under the IT Act §66E (privacy violation) and IPC §354D (online stalking) apart from any dowry-related charges.
2. The UPI drip
   Joint groceries and EMIs are paid from her UPI. Gradually, unauthorised transfers appear late at night. If she objects, threats of “leaking chats” surface. Legally, coerced OTP/PIN sharing and impersonation-based transactions can invoke IT Act §66C (identity theft) and §66D (cheating by personation), along with theft/cheating provisions in the IPC.
3. Loan traps in her name
   A family member uses her PAN and SMS access to open a BNPL/loan account. Missed EMIs damage her credit and become a tool of control “Tell your parents to send ₹X or we’ll ruin your score.” Here, identity theft and forgery/cheating can apply, and the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, addresses unlawful demands tied to marriage.
4. Image-based extortion
   Private photos (sometimes taken consensually, sometimes via hidden cameras) are threatened with exposure to coerce gifts or signatures on property papers. Depending on the content, IT Act §§67/67A (obscene/sexually explicit material), §66E (privacy), and IPC provisions on criminal intimidation and voyeurism may apply.

Cases That Reveal the Face of “Digital Dowry”

In recent years, Indian police stations and cybercrime helplines have quietly started recording complaints that blur the line between traditional dowry harassment and modern-day digital abuse. These are not isolated quarrels but patterns that expose how technology is being weaponized inside marriages.

One such case emerged in Delhi, where a young bride discovered that her husband had secretly gained access to her Facebook account. She was locked out, while he uploaded vulgar posts and threatened to share morphed photos with her in-laws unless her family paid more dowry. What earlier would have been emotional blackmail across the dinner table had now turned into cyber-extortion, humiliating, public, and relentless.

In Bengaluru, an IT professional approached the police after realizing her UPI-linked salary account was being siphoned by her husband. Each month, her salary was drained under the guise of “family expenses.” When she resisted, he allegedly threatened to use her private chats and emails, which he had hacked, as evidence to claim she was “untrustworthy.” Here, financial control and cyber surveillance fused into one disturbing form of dowry pressure.

In Udupi, Karnataka, a woman’s ordeal showed another side of digital cruelty. After her family failed to meet escalating dowry demands, she received a WhatsApp message from her husband: “Talaq, Talaq, Talaq.” The digital divorce was not only a personal shock but also a public humiliation, leaving her cut off instantly with no recourse. The police later booked the husband for dowry harassment alongside violations of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act.

These are not isolated episodes. From urban IT hubs to rural districts, women are reporting variations of the same hybrid crime, husbands and in-laws using hacking, phone tracking, or social media coercion to enforce dowry demands. Legal aid helplines in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bihar confirm a rise in such complaints, though few have been formally recognized as part of a wider trend.

Where the law stands (and where it struggles)

• Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961: Prohibits giving/taking of dowry; linked offences can be charged when unlawful demands are made post-marriage.
• IPC §498A (cruelty by husband or relatives): Covers physical or mental cruelty tied to unlawful demands. Digital coercion and surveillance that cause grave mental injury or extortionary pressure can qualify.
• IPC §354D (stalking): Explicitly includes monitoring a woman’s internet/email or electronic communications.
• IT Act §§66C/66D/66E: Identity theft, cheating by personation using computer resources, and violation of privacy. These tightly fit OTP coercion, account takeovers, and covert recording.

The gap: Most police stations still register the “offline” offence (498A/Dowry Act), but the cyber layer is not always added, losing crucial digital-forensics steps like device seizure, cloud-backup warrants, UPI tracebacks, and app-log preservation. Low conviction rates in many cities underscore system bottlenecks and underline the need to correctly charge and investigate the digital elements from day one.

Why is this rising?

1. Ubiquity of smartphones + payments
   India’s real-time payment rails are world-class; monthly UPI volumes cross tens of billions of transactions. This convenience creates more attack surface inside households rapid, low-value, repeatable frauds that are easy to hide.
2. Normalisation of device sharing
   Families routinely share OTPs or hand over unlocked phones for errands. That cultural norm blurs consent and makes evidence messier later.
3. Cheap stalkerware & “spy” tutorials
   Semi-legal and outright illegal tools are searchable, with how-to guides everywhere. Security labs keep warning about intimate-partner surveillance risks.
4. Economic stress and unemployment
   Even as headline fraud values fluctuate, official and media analyses describe rising incidents of small-ticket digital frauds. Financial stress can turn dowry pressure into ongoing extraction “monthly asks” framed as “help the household,” enforced via phone control.

How to identify the red flags early

• Rapid battery drain or data spikes after marriage; unknown apps with admin rights; disabled Play Protect/iOS warnings. (Common stalkerware signs.)
• Rules around your phone change: mandatory live location, forced unlocks, OTP sharing “for family tasks,” or being asked to read out bank SMS every time.
• UPI/credit alerts you didn’t trigger; small test transfers to new contacts; sudden BNPL/loan SMS.
• Threats to leak chats/photos if you refuse “gifts” or cash.

If you or someone you know is at risk: a practical playbook

1. Safety first, don’t confront the compromised device.
   Use a clean phone/computer to plan. Change critical passwords (email, Apple ID/Google, banking) from a safe device. Enable hardware-key or app-based 2FA where possible.
2. Quiet evidence capture.
   Photograph suspicious apps/services, admin lists, unknown profiles, and bank statements showing unauthorised transfers. Email copies to a trusted account not logged in on the home phone.
3. Preserve logs before resetting.
   Ask the police/cyber cell to image the device and request platform logs (WhatsApp, Google, Apple, bank, UPI). Early preservation is essential if you plan to file under 498A, Dowry Act, IT Act §§66C/66D/66E, or IPC §354D.
4. Report fast on the right channels.

• Local police/cyber cell for FIR (add both offline and cyber sections).
• National Cyber Crime Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) for online complaints (choose “women/children” or “financial fraud” as applicable).
• Bank/UPI app: trigger dispute/freeze immediately; RBI rules and bank SOC teams track mule accounts quickly in early hours. Multiple official reports show authorities increasingly using freezing/blacklisting to curb cascading losses.

1. Financial shield.
   Open a new account not linked to shared numbers; switch OTP to a new SIM; move recurring deposits; set per-transaction limits.
2. Device hygiene.
   After evidence is preserved, factory-reset the phone and set up fresh from a clean backup. Update OS and revoke all unknown app permissions.
3. Support systems.
   Contact NCW/state women’s commissions or local NGOs for legal/psychosocial help. NCW complaint surges during lockdown highlighted how many women needed remote help, and those channels still work.

What police, courts, and platforms can do next

• Charge the cyber layer by default. Add IT Act and §354D where monitoring and impersonation are evident, this unlocks device forensics and platform cooperation.
• Standard operating procedures for intimate-partner tech abuse: check for stalkerware, admin apps, cloud backups, and UPI logs in every 498A/Dowry case.
• Faster rail-level fraud controls. RBI and NPCI have begun tightening rails; continuing AI-based anomaly detection and bank-to-bank “hard holds” for suspected domestic coercion would help survivors keep funds safe.
• Awareness campaigns: “Don’t share OTP/PIN even with family,” and “Know the signs of stalkerware,” pushed via matrimony apps, wedding planners, and SHG networks.

The bottom line

“Digital dowry” isn’t a new law on the books; it’s a new pattern: old coercion powered by new technology. The data show large, persistent marital-cruelty caseloads, a pandemic-era spike in domestic-abuse complaints, and a steep rise (and churn) in small-ticket digital fraud incidents. Together, they create ideal conditions for tech-enabled control after marriage. The fixes are clear: treat phones as crime scenes when abuse is alleged, preserve digital trails early, and make India’s financial rails safer for those most at risk at home.

Sources (key references)

• Weddings went online during lockdown: NDTV, Indian Express, Times of India coverage of “virtual weddings” and video-call ceremonies.
• Largest share of crimes against women = marital cruelty: NCRB Crime in India 2022; national reportage summarising the shares.
• NCW complaints spike in 2020–2021: Economic Times summary of NCW data; Hindustan Times report.
• Lockdown intensity & DV complaints: NBER working paper “COVID-19 and the Shadow Pandemic.”
• Stalkerware definitions & prevalence: Kaspersky resource center and annual reports.
• Digital-payment fraud trends (RBI/Finance Ministry): RBI Annual Report coverage and sector analyses; data on UPI fraud incidents rising ~85% in FY24; subsequent moderation noted in FY25 reportage.
• Relevant statutes: Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; IPC §498A; IPC §354D; IT Act §§66C/66D/66E.
• Systemic gaps (convictions, implementation): Recent city-level study/reporting on low conviction rates and process issues.
• Hindustan Times: “After dowry demand, man hacks wife’s FB account
• Times of India: “Woman accuses hubby of hacking Wi-Fi, phones
• Times of India: “Woman alleges dowry harassment, triple talaq via WhatsApp