I once tried to report a phone as stolen—I was quite certain it had been taken. The cop at the station pushed back. Calmly, almost helpfully, he explained that a theft complaint meant I’d have to prove it was actually stolen and not just misplaced.

When I insisted, he dropped the politeness. Said I was creating unnecessary work for him. His reasoning was blunt: an FIR would force him to investigate, and he had no real chance of recovering the phone. That would hurt his record and invite trouble from his superior.

His advice was simple—file it as a lost phone. That would be enough to get a replacement SIM.