With the advent of digitization most people in this day and age spend time virtually on the internet. Even during the times of pandemic all kinds of communications are carried out through the internet. With this advancement in technology and internet explosion the crimes that happen in cyberspace are also rapidly increasing. To combat these cybercrimes, the Parliament of India passed the Information Technology Act, 2000 which provides the legal infrastructure to regulate cybercrimes and e-commerce in India. The Act not only recognises electronic records and digital signatures but also defines what constitutes as cybercrimes and imposes penalties for them. Acts such as hacking, theft of data, inducing malware, child pornography, cyber-terrorism, etc are treated as a criminal offence under this law. If a crime involves a computer or network located in India, persons of other nationalities can also be indicted under the law.
The IT Act also has subordinate legislations like the Intermediary Guidelines Rules 2011 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Petitions have been filed in various Courts challenging the 2021 rules for attempting to curb the free speech of citizens.