NAVIGATING CYBERBULLYING LAWS IN INDIA: ADDRESSING CHALLENGES AND REFORM OPPORTUNITIES POST-REPEAL OF SECTION 66A
AUTHOR – SHRIYA JAYASHANKAR, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF LAW, CHRIST (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)
BEST CITATION – SHRIYA JAYASHANKAR, “NAVIGATING THE NEXUS: THE ROLE OF WTO JURISPRUDENCE IN HARMONIZING INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES”, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (2) OF 2026, PG. 918-928, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
ABSTRACT
The explosive growth of digital technology has revolutionized communication in India, both empowering and subjecting people to the risks of new vulnerabilities. Perhaps the most urgent of these threats is cyberbullying, which takes the form of repeated online harassment, defamation, intimidation, and abuse. Compared with traditional bullying, cyberbullying’s anonymity, amplification, and permanence cause intense psychological and reputational damage. India originally dealt with this issue under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which criminalized “grossly offensive” or “menacing” computer programme messages[1]. The provision’s vagueness and overbreadth resulted in its abuse for silencing dissent, and the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) invalidated it as unconstitutional. Although this protected freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(a), it also left a vacuum in law, making victims of cyberbullying dependent upon dispersed provisions under the IT Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that fail to encapsulate the continuous, composite character of the offence.[2]
This paper examines the extent to which statutory law deals with cyberbullying after Shreya Singhal’s case, how judicial interpretations have shifted in the absence of a codified offence, and whether India needs a specific law to reconcile Article 19’s protections with the right to dignity and privacy under Article 21[3]. Taking a doctrinal approach, the study examines statutory law, constitutional jurisprudence, and leading judicial pronouncements, while taking into account academic scholarship and comparative models from jurisdictions like the UK and Australia.
Keywords
Cyberbullying, Information Technology Act (2000), Section 66A – Shreya Singhal, Freedom to Speech, Article 21
[1] Information Technology Act, 2000, § 66A (India)
[2] Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) 5 SCC 1 (India).
[3] India Const. art. 21, art. 19