THE EXTRATERRITORIAL QUANDARIES OF CYBER LAWS: A COMPARATIVE SCRUTINY OF ANTI-CYBER TERRORISM FRAMEWORK IN INDIA

The contemporary condition in the digital world has revolutionized the steps to communicate, to do commercial activities, and to govern the masses, while adding new, profound vulnerabilities to contend with. These vulnerabilities are the anchor for the cyber terrorists to threaten the public by creating distrust in the available digital systems and targeting the national security agencies and putting national sovereignty to the test every now and then. Cyber Terrorism refers to the tech-driven terrorism that clearly aims at destabilizing governments, disrupting the growth of economies, and threatening the security system of nations. This paper dwells on the evolution of the legal trajectory of India’s preparedness in dealing with the vulnerabilities of critical information systems’ protection and prevention from any terrorist attacks. It focuses on the legal framework of the IT law, which encapsulates the Information Technology Act 2000, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the National Cyber Security Policy, 2013, and also compares the Indian Laws to the international frameworks like the Budapest Convention, Tallinn Manual, and the IT Regulations of the USA, the EU, and the UK.
Also this paper uses doctrinal and comparative methodology to analyse the entire situation and aims at identifying the gaps, dubieties, challenges, and conflicts among the Indian legal frameworks and the contemporary world. It also lays an emphasis on the urgent need for revolution in the sphere of the digital world through the newly proposed Digital India Bill, better incorporation of cyber laws in international diplomacy, and usage of advanced cyber forensics in the investigations. This paper concludes on the note that India’s techno-legal system is still in the stage of evolution and must transition into a preventive model to protect it from any possible cyber threat.
KEYWORDS: Cyber Terrorism, Cyber Security, Information Technology, Data Breaches, Digital India Bill