Open Access Research Article
CYBER CRIMES AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY UNDER THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT, 2000: EMERGING LEGAL CHALLENGES
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The
Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) was India's first, and remains its
principal, special legislation criminalising conduct committed through
computers, computer networks and communication devices. Enacted to give legal
recognition to electronic commerce and subsequently fortified by the
Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, the statute today operates as the
technical backbone of India's cyber-criminal-liability framework, running in
parallel with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (“BNS”) and its accompanying
procedural and evidentiary codes. This paper undertakes a doctrinal and
analytical examination of criminal liability under the IT Act, tracing the
statute's legislative evolution from 2000 through the transformative 2008
amendment to its present-day interaction with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam,
2023, which came into force on 1 July 2024. It critically analyses the
principal offence provisions — Sections 43, 65, 66, 66B to 66F, 67, 67A to 67C,
69, 69A and 70 — assessing their doctrinal clarity, mens rea requirements, and
continuing fitness for purpose against a backdrop of rapidly evolving digital
conduct, including ransomware extortion, identity theft, cyberstalking, obscene
and sexually explicit content, cyber terrorism, and unauthorised access
offences. The paper examines the constitutional and jurisprudential turning
point represented by Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, in which the Supreme
Court struck down Section 66A for vagueness and overbreadth, alongside
subsequent judicial engagement with Sections 66, 66C, 66D, 66E, 67 and 69A in
cases addressing identity theft, privacy violation, intermediary liability and
content-blocking orders. Employing doctrinal legal research methodology
supported by secondary data drawn from National Crime Records Bureau reports
and Ministry of Home Affairs disclosures, the paper identifies persistent legal
challenges: definitional ambiguity in emergent offence categories such as
deepfake-facilitated fraud and artificial-intelligence-enabled impersonation,
jurisdictional uncertainty in cross-border digital conduct, intermediary
liability tensions under the amended IT Rules, 2021, and the practical
difficulty of reconciling IT Act prosecutions with the newly codified
evidentiary regime under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. The paper concludes
that while the IT Act remains doctrinally indispensable, its ageing
definitional architecture requires targeted legislative refinement,
harmonisation with the BNS framework, and institutional capacity-building to
remain an effective instrument of criminal liability in India's digital
ecosystem.
Published Paper
Author Details
Authors: UMANG KAMBOJ
Registration ID: 1013070 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13070
Year: Aug-2026 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 5
Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, India
Page No.: 1816-1838
Article Information
CYBER CRIMES AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY UNDER THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT, 2000: EMERGING LEGAL CHALLENGES
Authors: UMANG KAMBOJ
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Volume 3
- Issue 5
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- AbbreviationIJLRA
- ISSN2582-6433
- AccessOpen Access
- LicenseCC 4.0
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