CYBERBULLYING: LEGAL CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN THE DIGITAL ERA

Abstract

The rapid expansion of digital technology has fundamentally transformed social interaction, shifting substantial dimensions of everyday life from offline to online space and, with that shift, giving rise to a distinctive form of harassment now widely termed cyberbullying. The COVID-19 pandemic considerably intensified this problem, with both adolescents and adults experiencing increased online abuse and the severe physical, emotional and psychological harm it inflicts. This paper critically examines the legal framework governing cyberbullying in India, situating the Information Technology Act, 2000, its 2008 amendment, and the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 within a comparative survey of international legal standards from the United States, Canada and Australia. It traces judicial engagement with online harassment from the Supreme Court's landmark invalidation of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India through to the Delhi High Court's more recent recognition, in 2025, that cyberbullying can inflict psychological trauma comparable to physical violence, particularly upon children. The paper identifies persistent structural obstacles to effective enforcement, including offender anonymity, cross-border jurisdictional limitation, inconsistent enforcement practice and the continuing absence of a statutorily defined offence of cyberbullying in Indian law, and it proposes reform directed at closing this definitional and enforcement gap without compromising the constitutional guarantee of free expression Shreya Singhal itself vindicated.