The Existing Laws of India

India has an extremely detailed and well-defined legal system in place. Numerous laws have been enacted and implemented and the foremost amongst them is the Constitution of India. We have inter alia, amongst others, the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Evidence Act 1872, the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Companies Act, and so on. However, the arrival of internet signaled the beginning of the rise of new and complex legal issues. It may be pertinent to mention that all the existing laws in place in India were enacted way back keeping in mind the relevant political, social, economic, and cultural scenario of that relevant time. Nobody then could really visualize about the Internet. Despite the vivid insight of our master draftsmen the requirements of cyberspace could hardly ever be anticipated. As such, the coming of the Internet led to the emergence of numerous tricky legal issues and glitches which required the enactment of Cyber laws.

The existing laws of India, even with the most compassionate and liberal interpretation could not be interpreted in the light of the emergency cyberspace, to include all aspects relating to different activities in cyberspace. In fact, the practical experience and the wisdom of judgment found that it shall not be without major threats and pitfalls, if the existing laws were to be interpreted in the scenario of emerging cyberspace, without enacting new cyber laws. Hence, the need for enactment of relevant cyber laws.

None of the existing laws gave any legal validity or sanction to the activities in Cyberspace. For example, the Net is used by a large majority of users for email. Yet till today, email id not “legal” in our country. There is no law in the country, which gives legal validity, and sanction to email. Courts and judiciary in our country have been reluctant to grant judicial recognition to the legality of email in the absence of any specific law having been enacted by the Parliament. As such the need has arisen for Cyber law. Internet requires an enabling and supportive legal substructure in tune with the times. This legal infrastructure can only be given by the enactment of the relevant Cyber laws as the traditional laws have failed to grant the same. E-commerce, the biggest future of Internet, can only be possible if necessary legal infrastructure compliments the same to enable its pulsating growth.

All these and other varied considerations created a conductive atmosphere for the need for enacting relevant cyber laws in India. The laws related to cyber require a unique structure to grapple with the international and ethereal nature of the internet. It is often argued that Internet is not actually “regulable” at all, while others argue that not only can it be regulated but substantial bodies of law already exist. Since it is known that internet is not geographically bound national laws can not apply globally. A few international agreements exist, but some have argued that the Internet should be allowed to self-regulate as its own "nation."