cyber jurisdiction in india.

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Research Paper
Cyber Jurisdiction
BBA.LLB
Date-: 30/06/2017

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Index
Sr. No. CHAPTERISATION Pg. No.
1. Introduction 3
2. History of cyber Law in India 5
3. Information Technology Act 5
4. Cyber Jurisdiction 7
5. Position of Cyber Jurisdiction 7
6. Laws Related to Cyber Crime 8
7. Problem Of Jurisdiction in Cyber Law 9
8. Judicial Pronouncement 10
9. Suggestions 11
10. Conclusion 11
11. Bibliograpgy 12

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Title of the research paper
 Cyber Jurisdiction
Introduction
Cyberspace is like our real world, made by the virtual element which exist at several place
and for several people.
Today internet has revolutionised, its reach is far more than any other means of
communication. But with this, also comes great risks where this boon called the internet can
also be misused and hence giving rise to many criminal activities and instances of abetment
of criminal activities which have to be regulated. The basic nature of the internet is that it is
endless and has no boundaries. This is a primary characteristic of the internet and poses as a
severe problem when one speaks of the issue of jurisdictions.
Offences which are committed by using technology and internet with the intention to harm
any individual or group is known as the cyber offence/ cyber crime. The criminals commit
the crime from many different electronic devices and as the cyber space is boundry less , they
access it from any part of the world living in any country.
The main component used for committing cyber crime is computer. In India Information
Technology Act,2000 has the provisions recognised for dealing with all the activities which
takes place in cyberspace.
The problem of jurisdiction arises when they are committed outside India, effecting Indian
citizen or Indian property. This is because of disparities between the laws of different nations
(what one nations considered as crime, may not be considered by the other nation).
Jurisdiction is the concept whereby in any legal system, the power to hear or determine a case
is vested with the appropriate court. The main problem of cyber law jurisdiction is the
presence of multiple parties in various parts of the world who have only virtual nexus with
each other.
Nature of Research
The researcher has used the doctrinal method of study for the above tittle. The researcher has
used the explaintary design. As it provide us with deep knowledge and clear understanding of
the issue. The study is based on books, articles and judgement.
Research methodology
This research was conducted using open source documents that are open to the public.
References used for the analysis of the topic were found via the Internet. Additional research
was pursued utilizing college and university websites that posted studies of similar matters
Scope of Research
The research is mainly focusing of the laws relevant to cyber crime in India.

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Objective
To know about the jurisdiction of Indian courts on the matter of cyber crimes
Research Question
What is the position of cyber jurisdiction in India ?
Chapterization
 Introduction
 History of cyber law in India
 Information Technology Act, 2000
 Problem of
 Judicial pronouncement
 Conclusion
Litrature review
 Dr. Jyoti Ratan, “Cyber Law and Information Technology”
 Dr. R.K. Chaubey, “An Introduction to Cyber Crime and Cyber Law”

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History of cyber law in India
In the General Assembly of United Nation, passed the resolution on 30th January , being the
part of UN India had to adapt the Model Law. Hence IT act was passed on 17th October 2000
The bill was drafted by The Department of Electronics in July 1998. However, it was
introduced when the new IT Ministry was formed in the House on December 16, 1999. It
underwent substantial alteration, with the Commerce Ministry making suggestions related to
e-commerce .
After its introduction in the House, the bill was referred to the 42-member Parliamentary
Standing Committee following demands from the Members. The Standing Committee made
several suggestions to be incorporated into the bill. However, only those suggestions that
were approved by the Ministry of Information Technology were incorporated. One of the
suggestions that was highly debated upon was that a cyber café owner must maintain a
register to record the names and addresses of all people visiting his café and also a list of the
websites that they surfed. This suggestion was made as an attempt to curb cyber crime and to
facilitate speedy locating of a cyber criminal. However, at the same time it was ridiculed, as it
would invade upon a net surfer’s privacy and would not be economically viable. Finally, this
suggestion was dropped by the IT Ministry in its final draft.
The Union Cabinet approved the bill on May 13, 2000 and on May 17, 2000, both the houses
of the Indian Parliament passed the Information Technology Bill. The Bill received the assent
of the President on 9th June 2000 and came to 18 be known as the Information Technology
Act, 2000. The Act came into force on 17th October 2000.1
As the time passes, the need was felt to amend the IT Act, 2000 to insert new kinds of cyber
offences and plug in other loopholes that posed hurdles in the effective enforcement of the IT
Act, 2000, as technology is developed and new methods of committing crime using Internet
& computers surfaced. The IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 has brought marked changes in the
IT Act, 2000 on several counts.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT, 2000
Through the Fifty First Amendment the Indian Parliament has enacted an Act called the
Information Technology Act 2000.2 The primary aim of the parliament in making this law
was to recognize e-commerce and growing use of internet. The act aimed at meeting with
future legal problems that might arise due to the rapid increase in use of the internet. The
Indian Parliament captured the spirit of the General Assembly’s recommendations dated 30
January 1997 in the United Nations Model Law on Electronic Commerce 1996 (UNCITRAL
Model) in the form of The IT Act 20006.3 The basic principles of the Model Law were:
1 http://www.caaa.in/Image/cyber%20laws%20overview.pdf
2 It received the presidents consent on 9th June 2000
3 B.M.Gandhi. Indian Penal Code. India: Eastern Book Company. p. 41. ISBN 9788170128922.

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The Act facilitates international trade and acts as alternative to paper-based methods of
communication and storage information as it facilitates E-commerce and E-governance in the
country. It establishes a regulatory framework in the country also lays down punishment
regimes for different cybercrimes and offences.
The extent of the application of this act is stated in Section 1(2). Section 1(2)4 of IT Act 2006
states:
(2) It shall extend to the whole of India and, save as otherwise provided in this Act, it applies
also to any offence or contravention there under committed outside India by any person.
It can be understood that the act applies to any offence or contravention committed there
under outside India by any person. It can be seen that sub-section (2) highlights the extra-
territorial jurisdictional power of the nation over the wrong doer, irrespective of his
nationality, domicile, status etc. But to completely understand Sub-section 2, one should read it
with Section 75. Section 758,IT Act, 2000 reads:
Act to apply for offence or contravention committed outside India.-
(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), the provisions of this Act shall apply also to any
offence or contravention committed outside India by any person irrespective of his nationality.
(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), this Act shall apply to an offence or contravention
committed outside India by any person if the act or conduct constituting the offence or
contravention involves a computer, computer system or computer network located in India.
Therefore, Section 75 of the IT Act, 2000 states that the act applies to any offence or
contravention committed outside India by any person irrespective of his nationality [S.1(2)], if the
act or conduct constituting the offence or contravention involves a computer, computer system or
computer network located in India5
. For domestic suits and cases the act established a Cyber
Appellate Tribunal, which is defined in Section 2(1) (n). This Tribunal has been established under
Section 48(1).
Section 48(1)6
reads:
Establishment of Cyber Appellate Tribunal. – (1) The Central Government shall, by
notification, establish one or more appellate tribunals to be known as the Cyber Appellate
Tribunal.
Hence, the IT Act, 2000 makes provisions for a person to protect this cyber rights by the
creation of the Tribunal. Like mentioned earlier, the act in its inception was made with a
futuristic approach, but it failed due to the unforeseen rapid growth of the internet. The rise of
online marketing, e-commerce, e-banking and other such online portal have given a gateway
for a new array of crimes, cybercrimes. The question is whether the prevalent laws are
capable enough to deal with the basic complexities of the cyberspace like jurisdiction.
4 Information Technology Act, 2000
5 Information Technology Law and Pratice , vakul Sharma III Edition (2011)
6 Ibid

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Cyber Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction means the official power to make legal decision and judgements.7
There are two types of jurisdiction:
 Subject Jurisdiction: It is the type of jurisdiction in which courts decide the cases on
particular category.
 Personal jurisdiction: It is the type of jurisdiction in which court decide on cases
which are related to citizens, the person having some contact to the territory,
irrespective on where the person is presently located.
Every law has the set territorial boundary with the jurisdiction based on the place where the
defendant is based or has some contact with or the territory on which the cause of action has
taken place. Internet has no border and no fix geographical limit which leads to damage and
trouble in deciding which law will apply and which court has an adjudicative jurisdiction
over the dispute.
The courts decide it’s jurisdiction mostly on the location of the convict and the place where
the cause of action has arises. The internet fails to provide any location indication as the
person hosting a website may be in USA but its server may be in France and the consumer of
the goods sold on the website may be in India.8 And therefore the laws of three territory is
involved the jurisdiction. One of the state of prosecution, server host and laws from the state
of defendant are involved, which gives rise to the conflict of laws due to the lack of uniform
jurisdictional procedure.
Position of cyber jurisdiction in India
Indian courts practice the personal jurisdiction for solving the matters related to cyberspace.
Indian courts follow the principle of ‘lex foris’.9 This signifies that the Indian courts do not
follow the rule of procedure of any foreign law. They accept the well -established private
international law and the law of the forum in which the legal proceedings have been initiated
is applicable for the purpose of all the procedures.10 In Indian courts personal jurisdiction is
governed by Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC). Inthe Code of Civil Procedure the basisfor
decidingterritorialjurisdictionstaysthe same asany domesticdispute,butto decide onthe subject
matterjurisdictionof asuitsthe code has specifiedadistinctiononwhichtype of suitswill be
governedunderit,these are –
 For suits on immovable property
 For suits on movable property and wrongs to persons
7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction
8 http://racolblegal.com/issue-of-jurisdiction-under-cyber-law-in-india/
9 Law of forum
10 https://www.academia.edu/3700793/Jurisdictional_Issues_in_Cyber_Crime

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 For any other category of suits , Section 20 is a “default rule” as it provides for
categories of suits not covered in the above two categories .
Code of Civil Procedure in section 20 states that courts can practice the jurisdiction in
actions involving persons where:
 the defendant, or each of the defendants where there are more than one, at the time
of the commencement of the suit, actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on
business, or personally works for work.11
- any of the defendants, where there are more than one, at the time of commencement
of the suit actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on business, or personally works
for gain, provided that in such case with the leave of the court has been obtained or
the defendants who do not reside or carry on business, or personally work for gain, as
aforesaid, acquiesce in such institution the cause of section wholly or partly arises.12
Jurisdiction is one in every of the debatable problems within the case of cyber crime as a
result of the terribly universal nature of the cyber crime. With the ever-growing arm of the
cyber house the territorial idea looks to fade. New strategies dispute resolution ought to
crumple to the standard strategies. Thus, the information Technology Act, 2000 is silent on
these problems.
The IT Act, 2000 would be crippled without proper means and ways of implementing it. To
overcome the difficulties, necessary amendments must be made to The Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973. Moreover, it is important to note that India at present does not have a proper
extradition law to deal with crimes that have been committed over the Internet.
Laws related to cyber crime
The virtual world of web known as computer network and therefore the laws governing this
space are called Cyber laws and every one the netizens of this space come under the compass
of those laws because it carries a sort of universal jurisdiction. Cyber law also can be
delineated as that branch of law that deals with legal problems associated with use of inter-
networked information technology. In short, cyber law is that the law governing computers
and therefore the web. Cyber law is essential because it covers all aspects of transactions and
activities involving the internet, World Wide Web and cyberspace. Every action and reaction
in cyberspace has some legal and cyber legal perspectives.
11 Section 20 of Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) 1980.
12 http://www.vaishlaw.com/article/Cyberspace%20Jurisdiction-Amit%20Sachdeva.pdf

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Cyber law confines the laws relating to –
• Cyber crimes
• Electronic and digital signatures
• Intellectual property
• Data protection and privacy
Related Legislations: –
1) Information Technology Act, 2000: –Section 75 of the Act implies that the Act shall
apply to an offence or contravention committed outside India by any person if the act or
conduct constituting the offence involves a computer, computer system or computer network
located in India.
2) Indian Penal Code, 1860: – Section 3 and section 4 of the IPC deals with the extra-
jurisdictional power given to the Indian Courts.
3) Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: -Section 188provides that even if a citizen of
India outside the country commits the offence, the same is subject to the jurisdiction of courts
in India. In India, jurisdiction in computer network is comparable to jurisdiction as that
regarding ancient crimes and therefore the construct of subjective behaviour can prevail.
Furthermore Section 178 deals with the crime or a part of it committed in Republic of India
and Section 179 deals with the implications of crime in Indian Territory.
The Indian cyber laws ar contained within the information Technology Act, 2000 ("IT Act")
that came into force in October, 2000. The main purpose of the Act is to supply legal
recognition to electronic commerce and to facilitate filing of electronic records with the govt.
Problem of Jurisdiction in Cyber Law
Jurisdiction is meant the authority which a court has to decide matters that are litigated before
it or to take cognizance of matters presented in a formal way for its decision. Jurisdiction is
the power of a court to hear a case and determine a case.
The word jurisdiction we can find in code of civil procedure 1908, but we cannot find the
exact meaning of cyber space. So, the problem of jurisdiction is solved with the help of code
of civil procedure 1908.The main problem of Internet Jurisdiction is the presence of multiple
parties in various parts of the world who have only virtual nexus with each other. Then the
problem of place is raised that where the party wants to sue?
Traditional requirements generally encompass two areas-

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Firstly, the place where the defendant resides, or
Secondly, where the cause of action arises.
Why the jurisdictional issues are raised?
The answer of the why is the problem of jurisdiction is complete confusion and contradiction
that plague judicial decisions in the area of Internet Jurisdiction. Suppose if a person decides
to buy some products from a website, and pays money for it through a credit card, and
suddenly some internet problem is occurred and the transaction is stopped. In this occasion
whether a person is file a sue the owner of the site. But the owner of the site is in Singapore.
The site itself is based in a server in South Africa. So the question is raised where the
defendant resides? The transaction occurred on the net. So was it in India or in South Africa.
Jurisdiction is one of the unsettled issues in the case of cyber terrorism due to the very
universal nature of the cyber crime. With the ever-growing arm of the cyber space the
territorial concept seems to vanish13. New Methods dispute resolution should give way to the
conventional methods. Thus, the Information Technology Act, 2000 is silent on these issues
Judicial Pronouncement
1. In a leading case of cyber crime, SMC Pneumatics (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Jogesh
Kwatra, India’s first case of cyber defamation, High Court of Delhi assumed jurisdiction
over a matter where a corporate’s reputation was being defamed through e-mails, and
passed an important ex-parte injunction. The concept of consequence and cause of action
extends jurisdiction but a conflicting situation arises where there is no defined regulation
at one of the places. For example, the Act does not provide any provision to catch the
internet pornography on foreign websites but only for sites in India.
2. The Supreme Court of India, in the case of SIL Import v. Exim Aides Silk Importers has
recognized the need of the judiciary to interpret a statute by making allowances for any
relevant technological change that has occurred. Until there is specific legislation in
regard to the jurisdiction of the Indian Courts with respect to Internet disputes, or unless
India is a signatory to an International Treaty under which the jurisdiction of the national
courts and the circumstances under which they can be exercised are spelt out, the Indian
Courts will have to give a wide interpretation to the existing statutes, for exercising
Internet disputes.
13 http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/issue-of-jurisdiction-in-combating-cyber-crimes-issues

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SUGGESTIONS
 An impartial body that acts as a dispute resolution body to deal with the cyberspace
disputes that take place between people from different countries.
 All domestic cyber disputes should be tackled by the domestic courts of the various
countries in accordance with their own laws.
 An international monitoring or regulatory body with some binding authority may be
assigned the task of analysing, etc. rules of cyber jurisdiction should be made that has
binding control over the countries. On a concluding note, the internet is big, vast,
complex and here to stay.
Our traditional methods of legal systems have miserably failed in front of technology.
Instead of altering our current systems and trying to find a method that is new, innovative and
a kind where all have to compromise a little so that the compromise can be used for a greater
good of justice and equity. Coming back to how we started off, the ‘Modi Government’ has
been propagating the use of internet and making the government’s resources and
documentation all online and easily accessible by all. As brilliant and forward as this idea is,
it can become equally dangerous and a potential inspiration for greater cybercrime. While it
is a great step towards becoming a more transparent and greater democracy it also invites and
makes it easier for cyber terrorism, this calls for greater cyber security. Several unforeseeable
cybercrimes will come to rise which will need immediate attention which they come and at
that moment solving issues like jurisdiction will only slower the process and create a
snowball effect making things worse. If digitally advancing countries, such as India, fail to
establish an efficient legal framework, then the jurisdictional problem of cybercrime
legislation will continue to threaten
Conclusion
In the present scenario where the cyber crimes are increasing to an alarming extent, the
present need of the hour is to have broad based convention dealing with criminal substantive
law matters, criminal procedural questions as well as with international criminal law
procedures and agreements. The IT Act, 2000 would be crippled without proper means and
ways of implementing it. To overcome the difficulties, necessary amendments must be made
to The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Moreover, it is important to note that India at
present does not have a proper extradition law to deal with crimes that have been committed
over the Internet. To address this issue, India should become a signatory to the Convention
of cyber crimes treaty and should ratify it. This move would go a great deal in resolving the
jurisdictional controversies that may arise in cyber crime cases.

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Bibliography
 academia.edu
 lexwisdom.wordpress.com
 lawyersclubindia.com/Article
 legalservicesindia.com/article
 Dr. Jyoti Ratan, “Cyber Law and Information Technology”
 Dr. R.K. Chaubey, “An Introduction to Cyber Crime and Cyber Law”