INTRODUCTION

This webpage hopes to inform readers about the issues surrounding cyberbullying. The National
Conference of State Legislatures defines cyberbullying as the willful and repeated use of
cellphones, computers, and other electronic communication devices to harass and threaten
others.

It is important to distinguish that the difference between cyberharassment and

cyberbullying lies in the victims age. Cyberbullying usually involves a minor and happens
within a school context whereas cyberharassment spans all age groups. Cyberbullying is
becoming a greater focus in state legislatures while bullying and harassment policies are being
supplemented to provide protection against cyberbullying.
This topic is about Indian Laws with the context about Bullying. As we considered firstly
about our law related to this discourse that is deals with Constitutional law, the Indian
Penal Code, theCriminal Procedure Code (CrPC), Bills and Ordinances proposed as well as Acts
passed by Parliament, and Case law by the Judiciary consisting of both the Supreme and State
Courts (High Courts) . As Laws are carry out for the prosperity of the country. Where the each
citizen has enjoyed their Rights as well as performed their Duties. As if relate with the context
the Anti - bullying law is collectively enacted to improve or to help in reduce and eliminate
bullying. This law undertaken in national or sub-national, and is commonly focused at
ending bullying in schools or workplaces and even for cyber security purpose. Bullying laws
are laws that aim to prevent bullying or address it when it happens or both. Because they
are against bullying, they are also called anti- bullying lawsfor clarity. So far, there are only
State laws about bullying, but people have suggested a National law. Bullying laws often
focus on schools, which are the site of a large amount of bullying behaviour, with
bullying being the most problematic during the middle school years (grades 6-8). Bullying
laws have pursued different programs and agendas. Laws may or may not criminalize
bullying, some preferring to keep the handling of such situations in the realm of families and
schools (when appropriate) rather than the Courts.
Indian law on cyber stalking

The Indian Information technology Act 2008 (amended) does not directly address stalking. But
the problem is dealt more as an "intrusion on to the privacy of individual" than as regular cyber
offences which are discussed in the IT Act 2008. Hence the most used provision for regulating
cyber stalking in India is section 72 of the Indian information technology act ( Amended) , 2008
which runs as follows;
Section 72: Breach of confidentiality and privacy: Save as otherwise provided in this Act or any
other law for the time being in force, any person who, in pursuant of any of the powers conferred
under this Act, rules or regulations made there under, has secured access to any electronic record,
book, register, correspondence, information, document or other material without the consent of
the person concerned discloses such electronic record, book, register, correspondence,
information, document or other material to any other person shall be punished with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one
lakh rupees, or with both.
And also section 72A of the Information Technology Act,2000(amended in 2008), which runs as
follows:
Section 72A:Punishment for Disclosure of information in breach of lawful contract (Inserted
vide ITAA-2008): Save as otherwise provided in this Act or any other law for the time being in
force, any person including an intermediary who, while providing services under the terms of
lawful contract, has secured access to any material containing personal information about
another person, with the intent to cause or knowing that he is likely to cause wrongful loss or
wrongful gain discloses, without the consent of the person concerned, or in breach of a lawful
contract, such material to any other person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which
may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to five lakh rupees, or with both.
In practice, these provisions can be read with section 441 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals
with offences related to Criminal trespass and runs as follows: Whoever enters into or upon
property in the possession of another with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or
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annoy any person in possession of such property , or having lawfully entered into or upon such
property, unlawfully remains there with intent thereby to intimidate , insult or annoy any such
person, or with an intent to commit an offence, is said to commit criminal trespass.
If the cyber stalking is done only to annoy the victim and is not resulted to serious offences like
severe defamation, sexual crimes, identity theft or even grave crimes like terrorism, it is treated
as a bailable offence.
However, after the December, 2012 Delhi gang rape incidence, the Indian government had taken
several initiatives to review the existing criminal laws. A special committee under Justice Verma
was formed for this purpose and basing upon the report of the committee, several new laws were
introduced. In this course, anti-stalking law was also introduced. The Criminal Law Amendment
Ordinance,2013 added S.354D to the Indian Penal Code to define and punish the act of stalking.
This law is as follows:
S.354D of the IPC (as has been added by the The Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance,2013 ):
Whoever follows a person or contacts or attempts to contact such person to foster personal
interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such person or whoever
monitors the use by a person of the internet, email or any other form of electronic
communication or watches or spies a person in a manner that results in fear of violence or
serious alarm or distress, in the mind of such person or interferes with the mental peace of such
person, commits the offence of stalking.

Provided that the course of conduct will not amount to stalking if the person who pursued it
shows that it was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime and the person
accused of stalking had been entrusted with the responsibility of prevention or detention of crime
by the State , or that it was pursued under any enactment or rule of law, or to comply with any
condition or requirement imposed by any person under any enactment, or, that in the particular
circumstances, the pursuit of the course of conduct was reasonable.
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Whoever commits the offence described in S.354D(1) shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term which shall not be less than one year but shall extend to three years
and shall also be liable to fine.
Definition of Bullying (Legal Definition)
Bullying means systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological
distress on one or more students or employees. It is further defined as unwanted and repeated
written, verbal, or physical behaviour, including any threatening, insulting, or dehumanizing
gesture, by a student or adult, that is severe or pervasive enough to create an
intimidating, hostile,
humiliation;

or

offensive

educational

environment;

cause

discomfort

or

or unreasonably interfere with the individuals school performance or

participation; and may involve but is not limited to: teasing, social exclusion, threat,
intimidation, stalking, physical violence, theft, sexual, religious, or racial harassment, public
humiliation, or destruction of property.
The Laws related for the bullying, firstly we have to know about the ways of bullying. As we
know the bullying is considered all kind of discomfort or humiliation which leads t
o affect the person in psychological and physical way. The prior step of any individual is
in school. The role of bullying in school stand for torture, teasing, social exclusion, threat,
intimidation, stalking, physical violence, theft, sexual, religious and many more.
Bullying in School
Bullying shall refer to any severe use by one or more students of a written, verbal or
electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof, directed
at another student that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in reasonable fear of
physical or emotional harm or damage to his property; creating a hostile environment at
school for the other student; infringing on the rights of the other student at school; or
materially and substantially disrupting the education process or the orderly operation of a
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school; such as
Physical Way
Any unwanted physical contact between the bully and the victim like punching, pushing,
shoving, kicking, slapping, tickling, headlocks, inflicting school pranks, teasing, fighting and
the use of available objects as weapons.
Psychological Way
Any act which causes damage to a victims psyche, the human soul, mind, or spirit.
Emotional Way
Any slanderous statement or accusation that causes the victim undue emotional
distress like directing foul language or profanity at the target, name-calling,
tormenting and commenting negatively on victims looks, clothes and body.
Anti-bullying laws in India for School
There is no such Legislature for Bullying in School but as we considered about the
Legal System of our country the law should make it a legal duty for schools to have such
policies and frame guidelines and mandate that bullying and cyber bullying be punishable by
schools.
It shall then be the responsibility of the Principal to ensure that the policy is framed
and implemented. The Raghavan Committee Report has already recommended that
teachers and the principal be held liable for acts of bullying of students. So has the
Supreme Court in University of Kerala vs. Council, Principals colleges, Kerala & Ors1.It is
now a matter of implementation. Both the Raghavan Committee Report and the Supreme
Court decision would squarely take within their folds cyber-bullying, though not explicitly
mentioned.

1Supreme Court in Re Civil Appeal 887 OF 2009 on 8 Dec., 2011.

Now the Question arises, why should the Indian penal laws not applied to a school? You may
say that the school boys are only in late teens but do not forget that there are several
crimes in various cities including murders which are committed by teenagers today.
Teachers cannot hit a boy, or even give him unnecessary harsher punishments. But I have
heard of boys being kicked and hit by hockey sticks for not cheering loudly for the house and in
a boarding school, a boy was beaten up for playing badly in the game that led to the house
losing. One of the boys almost lost his hearing when slapped so hard that his eardrums. One was
kicked last year on his hand that he suffered a fracture but had to make up a story to the school
hospital due to pressure from the seniors and the regular drama around sneaking that leads to
boycotts. If the Bullying is tradition which cannot be reported then this tradition has to be stop
because tradition never affects the Human Rights.
Bullying in Workplaces
The issue of bullying at the workplace which is recognised in the west as violence in
workplaces, is one that can be covered under work can kill or work can exploit. Bullying is
persistent unwelcome behaviour, mostly using unwarranted or invalid criticism; nitpicking, fault-finding, also exclusion, isolation, being singled out and treated differently,
being shouted at, humiliated, excessively monitored, having verbal and written warnings
imposed, and much more. Bullying does not happen in schools only. Grown-ups also
indulge in or face bullying by peers and superiors. In the workplace, bullying usually
focuses on distorted or fabricated allegations of underperformance or ineptitude. Bullying is a
form of abuse, and bullies - and unenlightened employers -always go to great lengths to keep
their targets quiet, using threats of disciplinary action, dismissal, and gagging clauses. Often
eligible benefits are denied to the victim.

It is perhaps, time that we in India began

recognising workplace bullying not as an acceptable style of effective management, but as

violence directed at the mental well -being of employees. It is not only the multi-lateral banks
which shout harsh that Indias pro-labour laws are its biggest deterrent to progress; our
popular politicians and political parties of all shade have also come round to the view that

our labour needs to be controlled more. In a country where bondage and virtual slavery still
exist in the agriculture and mining sectors. Labour makes demands for fairness and justice.
Deadlines in the production and targets in the marketing areas are enforced with such
fact that our young workers tend to get burned out quicker, trying to meet the companys
demands on them. Unaware that such practices

need to be identified as mere

psychopathic bullying, and finding no precedence of such identification, our bright

youngsters allow themselves to be exploited to any level.
Bullying by way of Cyber
This is latest trend in present generation of students, and youngsters, perpetrators [known or
unknown] target credulous students in social networking websites like FaceBook or other
Social Networking Sites.
The several cases of posting of alter photos or other mischievous cyber criminal acts to
defame and humiliate their targets were reported,especially, when female student contempt
the companionship offer or love or marriage proposal of male students.
Anti- bullying laws in India for Cyber Crime
Cyber Laws & Security, A cyber security strategy has been outlined by DEIT to address the
strategic objectives for securing country's cyber space and is being implemented through the
following major initiatives:
Security Promotion & Publicity Cyber Laws Provides legal recognition to electronic documents
and a framework to support e-filing and e-commerce transactions and also provides a legal
framework to mitigate, check cyber crimes.
IT Act 2000.

IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, for user information Document title is "The Gazette of India"
Dated February 5, 2009.
Judgment (CAT), Notifications of Rules under section 6A, 43A and 79, Clarification on Rules
under Sections 43A and 79 of Information Technology Act, 2000.
CAT: Cyber Appellate Tribunal.
ICERT: Indian Computer Emergency Response Team.
CCA: Controller of Certifying Authorities,
The IT Act, 2000 states punishment to all those publishing information which is obscene as
also to any form of breach in privacy and confidentiality. The Indian Penal Code also covers
this issue. Apart from legal help, victims can also hire private investigators specializing in
tracking down cyber bullies. For those who want to find the culprit on their own, you
can simply Google Reverse E-mail Finder to find a list of websites which can help you unmask
the bully. These websites primarily track the email address down to its user and returns
the users identity as also some other personal information.Section 66 A of the Information
Technology Act, deals with actions done through a computer or a computer device that are
grossly

offensive

or

menacing,

or

done

to

annoy, inconvenience, insult, injure or

cause ill will against the person it is directed at. Cyber-bullying may not always involve
false statements. It may involve taunts about a persons quirks. Section 66A is viewed as
a controversial law which has a very wide scope that confers unbridled discretion in
enforcement as the terms grossly offensive, menacing, done to annoy, inconvenience,
insult, injure, cause ill will are not defined. With the vast socio, economic, regional and
cultural disparity in India it is difficult to define these terms in a manner to deal with and satisfy
all cross sections of society and this is best left to judicial determination. A picture of the victim
may be morphed and shown in a comical or sexually suggestive light. If a girls picture is
morphed, or sexually coloured remarks made against her, it can be construed

as

words,

gestures or acts intended to insult her modesty and may attract up to 1 year imprisonment
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and a fine or either one.2 Indecent representation of males is not covered under this Section. It
could also be transmission of obscene material in electronic form,3attracting a punishment
of up to 3 years imprisonment with a fine of up toFive LakhRupees for the first offence. The
punishment for a subsequent conviction is higher. Publishing or transmitting content
electronically in which children are depicted in an obscene, indecent or sexually explicit
manner; or entices a child into an online relationship for the purpose of sexually explicit
or otherwise offensive acts or facilitates or records the abuse of children are all actions which
result in enhanced criminal liability.4
In the virtual world, people use user names which may be fictitious.This is an accepted
practice. Where anyone represents himself as another person or another as himself or
knowingly substituting one person for another, he commits the offence of cheating by
personating which can attract liability for fine and/or imprisonment up to two years. 5Once it
is detected that someone is using a false identity to cyber-bully or to cheat someone
online, this section can be attracted. But a commonly accepted practice online is the use of
fictitious usernames. Impersonation is dealt with in the IT Act. 6 New Delhi, April 19, 2015
(IANS), Online abuse was a larger term that may include cyber bullying, stalking, revenge,
online defamation, leaking of private information and hacking. Trishna

Saikia could

not

believe it when her best friend created a fake profile of her on asocial networking site and
sent derogatory messages to common friends in a bid to get back at Saikia for dating a boy she
2PC Section 509: Woman in this section suggests female. It does not exclude minors

3Section67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.Even sending an obscene message through the mobile is an

offence under the act. Rohit Vedpaul Kaushal v.State of Maharashtra & Ors, 2008(2) AIR BomR90 (Nagpur Bench)

4Section67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000

5PC: Section 416

6Section 66D.

liked. According to the 'Tweens, Teens and Technology 2014 Report' by McAfee, 50
percent of Indian youth have had some experience with cyber-bullying (been cyber-bullied
online

or witnessed others being so treated), out of which one -third (36 percent) have

themselves been cyber -bullied. Sameer Malhotra, director, Mental Health and Behavioural
Sciences, Max Hospitals, who treats approximately two to three such cases in a month,
said that the effects on the victim include

low

self-esteem,

depression,

loneliness/emptiness, anxiety related symptoms and psychosomatic problems.

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feelings

of