CYBER LAW AND CYBER CRIME IN INDIA: A COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS

AUTHOR – ANKUR CHAUDHARY* & DR.JUHI SAXENA**

* STUDENT AT AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH, LUCKNOW CAMPUS

** ASSISTANT PROFESSOR -II AT AMITY LAW SCHOOL, AMITY UNIVERSITY(U.P.) LUCKNOW CAMPUS

BEST CITATION – ANKUR CHAUDHARY & DR.JUHI SAXENA, CYBER LAW AND CYBER CRIME IN INDIA: A COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (3) OF 2026, PG. 876-883, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

India recorded 65,893 registered cyber crime cases during 2023, a figure that represents a 24.4 per cent increase over the preceding year and that law enforcement specialists regard as a significant undercount of true incidence. Against this backdrop, the adequacy of India’s substantive legal framework for cyber crime takes on particular urgency. The primary statute governing cyber crime in India remains the Information Technology Act, 2000, a law drafted chiefly to facilitate e-commerce and digital governance rather than to address criminal conduct. Its criminal provisions were incorporated at a late stage and have required successive amendments to keep pace with the technology they were designed to regulate. The 2008 amendments, the three new criminal codes enacted in 2023, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of the same year have each added further layers without resolving the foundational problem: India does not have a coherent, purpose-designed cyber crime statute. The present paper examines whether the existing legislative architecture is adequate to the contemporary threat environment, how courts have interpreted its provisions, and what specific reforms are urgently needed to address these persistent gaps. The analysis draws on the doctrinal tradition established by Karnika Seth and Pavan Duggal, whose scholarship on the IT Act provides the foundational interpretive framework within which subsequent judicial and legislative developments must be understood. The paper proceeds through conceptual framework, legislative analysis, judicial interpretation, specific offence categories, institutional architecture, and comparative study before concluding with targeted recommendations for reform. Throughout, particular attention is paid to the interaction between criminal enforcement and constitutional rights, a tension that has defined Indian cyber law since the Supreme Court landmark decision in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. The article, based on doctrinal and comparative research methodology, contributes to a better understanding of cyber crime governance in India and the direction in which legislative and institutional reforms must proceed to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving digital threat landscape.

Keywords: Cyber Crime; Information Technology Act, 2000; Judicial Interpretation; Digital Evidence; Constitutional Rights; Cyber Security; Comparative Law; Legislative Reform; Personal Data Protection; Intermediary Liability