The legal landscape of India is changing at a fast pace to keep up with the needs of a rapidly changing digitally networked world. With technology seeping into our lives in every possible way—money and communications, education and administration—the legal community has to devise means to adjust to face new challenges in the form of cybercrime and prepare a new generation of legal professionals with improved judiciary exams. This article is an investigation into the two trends of increasing cybercrime in India and the resulting transformation of judiciary exams to deal with such legal cases.
Cybercrime refers to criminal activity perpetrated with the help of technology or the internet. With an estimated 800 million-plus internet users in India, the scope and magnitude of cybercrime have grown to a great extent. From hacking and phishing to cyberstalking and data theft, the magnitude of cybercrimes is enormous and more advanced in nature than ever before.
Spurious attempts to steal sensitive data like passwords, credit card numbers, and UPI PINs are prevalent. Phishing emails and imitation websites typically trick people into divulging personal information.
All sectors like finance, healthcare, and education have been hacked with breaches where hackers gain unauthorized access to databases.
With increasing use of social media, stalking, harassment, and cyberbullying, particularly against women and children, are on the rise.
Criminals utilize malware to trick users out of their system or data and demand money to regain access. The attacks do not stop at individuals but spill over to businesses as well as government agencies.
The use of AI technology in audio, video, and text manipulation is a threat to democracy and truth. Deep Fakes are increasingly being utilized for defamation, political campaigning, and fraud.
Cyber terrorism is devoted to reason of inflicting grievous damage or extortion of any type subjected in direction person, agencies of peoples or any government.
While each man or an woman has his or her proper speech an internet systems as well, we recognition of any man, woman or company they may be charged with defamation law.
India has been aware of the gravity of cyber threats for a long time and made legal reforms against them. Some of the significant laws and policies are:
This is India's primary law to tackle cybercrime. This act establishes offenses like hacking, identity theft, and cyber terrorism and provides guidelines of electronic governance and digital signatures.
Sections like Section 419 (impersonation cheating) and Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) are being used more and more in cybercrime cases with the assistance of the IT Act.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is keeping a track of cyber security threats and offering guidelines for withdrawing. Furthermore, the future-implementation Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 will make stricter regulations with regard to data privacy.
Indian courts have also been active in combating cybercrime. Courts have addressed matters such as privacy in the digital era (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, 2017), intermediary liability, and abuse of social media.
It was launched in 2017 to help internet users clean up their computers and devices by
removing viruses and spyware.
It was established in 2017. Its mission is to detect real-time cyber threats by scanning internet traffic and communication metadata (which are little pieces of information concealed inside each conversation).
It was started in 2018 to raise awareness about Cybercrime andincrease the capacity of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT personnel across all government agencies to implement safety measures
Even with these efforts, enforcement remains challenging due to:
Enforcement agencies lack experts to deal with and prosecute cyber crimes effectively.
Most cyber crimes have members from other states or countries, and it is challenging to investigate and prosecute them.
It takes a long time to prosecute cybercrimes, and the victims are discouraged from complaining.
Most citizens are unaware of their rights and the facilities available to report and receive redressal.
These is no separate procedural code for investigation of cyber or computer related offences.
While new offenses are being framed, the Indian judicial recruitment and legal education system is being overhauled to familiarize judges with knowledge on contemporary issues such as cyber law.
Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign
The governments at various levels need to conduct massive cybersecurity awareness campaigns, regarding Cyber frauds, use strong, unique passwords, being careful using public wi-fi, etc.
Cyber Insurance
Develop cyber insurance policies that are tailored to the specific needs of different businesses and industries. Customized policies will help ensure that organizations have coverage for the most relevant cyber risks they face.
Cyber insurance provides financial coverage against losses resulting from cyber incidents and by mitigating the financial impact of these incidents, organizations can recover more quickly and continue their operations.
Data Protection Law
Data is referred to as the new currency, thus is a requirement for a stringent data protection regime in India.
In this context, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and India’s Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 are steps in the right direction.
Collaborative Trigger Mechanism
For a country like India where the citizenry is more vulnerable to cybercrime, there is an urgent need for a collaborative trigger mechanism.
This mechanism would bind all parties and enable law enforcers to act quickly and safeguard citizens and businesses from a fast-growing menace.
In this context, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre will assist in centralizing cybersecurity investigations, prioritize the development of response tools and bring together private companies to contain the menace.
Some state public service commissions and judicial academies have incorporated in their syllabus for Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Higher Judicial Services:
Information Technology Act, 2000
Data Protection and Privacy Legislation
Jurisprudence of digital evidence and admissibility
International cyber law frameworks
This will enable future judges to comprehend intricate technical ideas and render wise decisions.
Current Affairs and Legal Developments
Most judiciary exams currently have general awareness papers that cover emerging Indian and international law trends. Candidates must be aware of:
Cybercrime trends and statistics
New Supreme Court judgments on digital rights
Technological advancements in forensic science
Judicial academies are also providing modules on digital forensics, e-filing mechanisms, and Artificial Intelligence applications in courts. The knowledge of such technology means that young judges are capable of performing their job properly in a digital court environment.
With the arrival of online learning platforms of St. Peter’s Law Academy, judiciary preparation has been completely transformed. The candidates are now able to utilize the ease of studying courses like cyber law, milestone judgments, and mock tests on cyber offenses from anywhere in the country.
In order to establish a robust legal environment, a holistic approach must be followed incorporating computerized law, efficient enforcement, computerized court hearings, and well-prepared judiciary candidates.
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