Threat To Leak A Private Video: Section 506 crime citizen guide 2026

Has someone threatened to leak your private video or intimate photos unless you do what they say? That is not just harassment, it is a serious criminal offence in India, and a 2026 Supreme Court ruling has made the law even clearer.

Is it still a crime if…?

• No video was actually recovered by police? Yes. The Supreme Court held in 2026 that non-recovery of the video is not fatal to conviction if other credible evidence proves the crime.
• It was only a threat and nothing was ever uploaded? Yes. Criminal intimidation is complete the moment the threat is made. The upload does not have to happen.
• The person was your partner or ex? Yes. Being in a relationship is not consent to have your private videos leaked. Your control over your own images and choices stays with you.
• It happened over WhatsApp, Instagram or an anonymous account? Yes. The new BNS law expressly covers threats made through electronic and anonymous communication.

A fine can also be imposed, for example a penalty running into thousands of Rupee alongside the jail term, at the court's discretion.

The law calls this offence criminal intimidation. It means threatening another person with injury to their body, reputation or property, in order to alarm them or force them to do something they are not legally bound to do.

When the threat is aimed at a woman's reputation, for example a threat to spread her intimate images or to impute unchastity to her, the law treats it as the more serious, aggravated form of the offence. That is why the punishment jumps from a maximum of two years to a maximum of seven years.

Crucially, the offence is the threat itself. You do not have to wait for the video to be leaked. The crime is complete the moment the accused makes the threat with the intent to alarm or coerce.

The statute. Under Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code, criminal intimidation is punishable in two parts. Part I covers ordinary threats and carries jail up to two years. Part II covers aggravated threats, including a threat to impute unchastity to a woman, and carries jail up to seven years. From 1 July 2024, the IPC was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023. The same offence now sits in Section 351 BNS, where sub-section (2) is the basic form and sub-section (3) is the aggravated form with the seven year ceiling. The BNS also expressly covers threats sent through electronic communication.

The 2026 Supreme Court ruling. In Vijayakumar v. State of Tamil Nadu, 2026 INSC 525, decided on 22 May 2026, a two judge bench of the Supreme Court, Justice N. Kotiswar Singh, who authored the judgment, and Justice Sanjay Karol, settled three important points:

1. A threat to upload a private video is aggravated criminal intimidation. The Court held that video recording a woman while she was bathing and then threatening to upload it on social media amounts to a threat to impute unchastity within the meaning of Part II of Section 506 IPC, the seven year category.
2. Non-recovery of the video does not sink the case. The Court said the law does not require recovery of the object of the crime as a must-have for conviction. If other credible evidence proves the video and the threat existed, the conviction stands.
3. Chastity means a woman's sexual autonomy, not old-fashioned morality. The Court reframed chastity as a person's control over their own sexual choices and self-determination. Unchastity, it said, includes any interference with the privacy and autonomy of a person's own consensual sexual life.

This ruling matters because it strips away the old idea that a woman's honour is about “purity” and instead protects her privacy, dignity and control over her own images.

1. Do not give in and do not pay. Paying or complying almost never stops a blackmailer, it invites more demands.
2. Save the evidence. Take screenshots of the threat messages, note phone numbers, usernames and profile links. Do not delete the chat.
3. File a police complaint or FIR for criminal intimidation and related cyber offences. You can also report on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
4. Ask for the content to be taken down from the platform and, if needed, seek a court order.

For the full step by step process of filing a complaint when intimate images are shared or threatened, see our detailed revenge porn complaint guide. This page is the legal-rule explainer, that page is the how-to-file walkthrough.

If a public authority such as the police or a cyber cell is sitting on your complaint, an RTI request can force them to disclose the status and action taken. Draft one in minutes with the AI RTI draft tool, and if the reply is late or evasive, escalate using the first appeal tool and check any reply with the PIO reply checker. For deeper strategy on using information law to hold offices accountable, read The RTI Playbook.

Yes. The offence is criminal intimidation, and it is complete the moment the threat is made with intent to alarm or coerce. The actual leak does not need to happen.

Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code, and from 1 July 2024, Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023. A threat to a woman's reputation or to impute unchastity falls in the aggravated slab, Section 351(3) BNS.

For the aggravated form, which includes threatening to leak a woman's intimate images, the maximum is seven years in jail, or a fine, or both.

That argument fails after Vijayakumar v. State of Tamil Nadu, 2026 INSC 525. The Supreme Court held that non-recovery of the video is not fatal to conviction if other credible evidence, such as messages and testimony, proves the threat and the video existed.

No. Being or having been in a relationship does not give anyone the right to leak your private videos. The Supreme Court has framed the law around your control over your own sexual choices and privacy, so consent to a relationship is not consent to expose your intimate images.

It confirmed that a threat to upload an intimate video is aggravated criminal intimidation, that non-recovery of the video does not defeat the case, and it reframed chastity as a woman's sexual autonomy and dignity rather than old ideas of purity.

Yes. Criminal intimidation protects any person threatened over their reputation or property. The specific “unchastity” language protects women, but threats to leak anyone's private content can attract criminal intimidation and other cyber and privacy offences.

Yes. If a police station or cyber cell delays action on your complaint, an RTI request can compel them to reveal the status and steps taken, which often speeds things up.

• Vijayakumar v. State of Tamil Nadu, 2026 INSC 525, Supreme Court of India, judgment dated 22 May 2026, per Justice N. Kotiswar Singh with Justice Sanjay Karol: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/95688186/
• Section 506, Indian Penal Code 1860, punishment for criminal intimidation, two-tier structure with aggravated Part II up to seven years.
• Section 351, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, criminal intimidation, in force from 1 July 2024, sub-section (2) basic and sub-section (3) aggravated.

• Revenge porn complaint guide, India
• AI RTI draft tool
• First appeal tool
• PIO reply checker
• RTI timeline calculator
• The RTI Playbook