On June 14, 2025, Telangana’s Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) delivered a masterclass in fast-tracked digital justice. Collaborating with the Telangana State Legal Services Authority, financial institutions, and all Police Commissioners and District Superintendents, the bureau facilitated over ₹15.79 crore in refunds in a single day during the second National Mega Lok Adalat of the year.
This brings the total refund amount to ₹53.5 crore during this edition alone, reaching 6,848 victims of cyber fraud. The momentum from this initiative builds on the first Mega Lok Adalat of 2025, held in March, which refunded ₹14.3 crore to 3,527 victims in a single day, and ₹43.68 crore to 4,984 victims over the full span of that initiative.
TGCSB’s approach integrates legal outreach, digital crime tracing, bank coordination, and real-time fund tracking to deliver justice in hours rather than months. In a country grappling with a growing wave of cybercrimes—ranging from phishing and OTP fraud to investment scams this Lok Adalat-led framework stands out as a blueprint for nation-wide replication.
Behind the Numbers: Technology, Teamwork, and Transparency
The success of the initiative wasn’t accidental. It stemmed from Telangana’s robust cybercrime response framework under TGCSB, which includes:
- A real-time fraud transaction tracking system
- Coordination with over 100 financial institutions to freeze and reverse transactions
- A victim-first grievance redressal model
- Legal services integration for fast case closure without traditional delays
In the days leading up to the Lok Adalat, teams from district police, cybercrime units, banks, and legal services authorities worked in tandem to identify eligible cases. These were typically cases where fraud amounts had been frozen post-complaint, pending legal authorization for reversal.
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On the day of the Adalat, judicial benches fast-tracked these authorizations, turning pending digital complaints into tangible refunds. Victims who had given up hope of recovering lost funds received SMS alerts and official communication confirming the refunds many within hours.
One senior officer noted, “This is not just a cyber win. It’s proof that the legal system can adapt to digital-era crimeswithout being shackled by analog processes.”
Scaling Up and Looking Ahead: A National Model in the Making
The Telangana model, blending grassroots legal outreach with high-tech cybercrime coordination, is now being closely watched by other states and even central agencies. With India reporting over 1.5 lakh cybercrime complaints monthly, the need for such scalable, citizen-centric mechanisms has never been more urgent.
The TGCSB’s success also dovetails with broader national reforms, including the digitization of FIR filings, 1930 helpline escalations, and AI-assisted fraud detection tools being piloted in collaboration with CERT-In and Ministry of Home Affairs.
Importantly, this initiative bridges a long-standing gap: the disillusionment among cybercrime victims who file complaints but seldom recover their money. “For the first time,” said one Hyderabad resident who got ₹48,000 back after being duped via a job scam, “I felt like the system was built to actually help me not just document my loss.”