In a drastic move against cybercrime, residents of Sukhpuri village in Haryana's Nuh district smashed 55 mobile phones during a panchayat meeting, resolving to abandon smartphones entirely. The video of the incident has gone viral, drawing attention to the region's deep-rooted cybercrime problem.
Village takes extreme step
The panchayat, held recently in Nagina block, decided that no resident would use a smartphone henceforth. Young men and elders together used stones to break the handsets, symbolizing a collective rejection of the devices they blame for fueling fraud and family discord. The decision followed sustained awareness campaigns by Nuh police, who have been urging communities to cut ties with criminal networks.
Villagers said smartphones had become the root cause of cybercrime and addiction tearing families apart. They plan to switch to basic keypad phones to sever links with the criminal world.
Nuh: India's cybercrime hub
Nuh district, part of the Mewat region, has emerged as what law enforcement calls India's most organized cybercrime hub, surpassing Jharkhand's Jamtara in scale and complexity. Nearly one in nine cybercrime cases nationwide traces back to Nuh, and 60 villages have been formally identified as hotspots.
Poverty, unemployment, and easy access to low-cost smartphones created fertile ground, with criminals renting open fields with good internet reception to conduct phishing calls. Typical scams include impersonating bank officials to extract OTPs and sextortion, where video calls are recorded, edited with explicit content, and used for blackmail. Sarpanches of flagged villages have been served notices to cooperate in cracking down on the menace.
Youth call move 'too extreme'
Not everyone in Sukhpuri welcomed the diktat. Several youngsters acknowledged the cybercrime problem but called the blanket ban an extreme step that would cut them off from modern life. Students said they rely on smartphones for online classes, study material, scholarship applications, and government scheme portals—none accessible on a keypad phone. Others pointed out that UPI payments, job applications, and daily navigation have made the smartphone a necessity, not a luxury. Giving it up, they argued, would push the village further behind.
The tension at the heart of Sukhpuri's experiment reflects a broader struggle in Mewat: how to wean a generation off criminal use of technology without denying its legitimate benefits. Whether the panchayat's resolve survives daily pressures will determine if this viral moment becomes a replicable model or a cautionary tale.
