CHALLENGES IN INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF CYBERCRIME IN INDIA: A FORENSIC AND LEGAL ANALYSIS
AUTHOR – HARSHVARDHAN PRATAP SINGH* & DR. ANUPRIYA YADAV**
* STUDENT AT AMITY UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW
** PROFESSOR AT AMITY UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW
BEST CITATION – HARSHVARDHAN PRATAP SINGH & DR. ANUPRIYA YADAV, CHALLENGES IN INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF CYBERCRIME IN INDIA: A FORENSIC AND LEGAL ANALYSIS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (5) OF 2026, PG. 701-711, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
Abstract
The way digital technologies are growing in India is changing how people live their lives. This is affecting how people talk to each other how they buy and sell things how they learn and how they think about keeping their personal information private.. With all these changes there is also a big increase in cybercrime. What used to seem like cases of hacking or online scams has now become a big and complicated problem that affects not just individuals but also the whole system of justice. The police and other law enforcement agencies are trying their best. They are having a hard time keeping up with how fast and clever these crimes are.India has laws to deal with this like the Information Technology Act from 2000 and other laws related to crime. However when these laws are put to the test in life some problems become clear. Investigations into cybercrimes are often slowed down because the police do not have the technical skills they do not have the right equipment to analyze evidence and sometimes they are just not sure what to do. The evidence from devices, which is very important in these cases can be easily changed or damaged and it is not always handled in the right way. This makes it hard to prosecute the cases because even a small mistake can make a strong case weak.Another problem that people often do not think is important enough is that cybercrimes can happen from anywhere in the world. This makes it hard for the police in countries to work together. When you add to this the fact that people can use tools to hide their identities and that technology is always changing it becomes a very difficult task. It is like trying to catch something that is always changing shape.
This paper is trying to look at these problems in detail not from a legal point of view but also from a technical point of view. It is looking at how digital forensics can help with investigations while also being realistic about the problems that exist. At the time it is thinking about the need for changes in the law in the institutions and in the technology. Because in the end dealing with cybercrime is not about making stricter laws it is about creating systems that are flexible informed and ready, for what is coming next. Cybercrime is a problem and digital technologies are a big part of it so we need to think about how to deal with cybercrime using digital technologies. The laws and the systems we have now are not enough to deal with cybercrime so we need to make some changes to be able to fight cybercrime.
Crucial words: Cybercrime, Digital Evidence, Cyber Forensics, Investigation, Prosecution, IT Act, Criminal Justice System