CYBERSTALKING AND INFRINGEMENT OF PRIVACY IN THE DIGITAL WORLD: EMERGING CHALLENGE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

INTRODUCTION The word cyberstalking consists of two phrases namely ‘cyber’ and ‘stalking’. If we go into the definition of these phrases, the word ‘cyber’ means “digital space” and the word ‘stalking’ means “unwanted following or attention towards a specific person”.

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Therefore, cyberstalking is defined as an act of unwanted following of a specific person in a digital space on any digital or social media platform.

An accurate definition of cyberstalking was provided in the case of State (Cyber Cell) v. Yogesh Pandurang Prabhu: “Cyberstalking involves an attacker harassing a victim through electronic means like website, forums, email, instant messaging platforms, etc. the anonymity of the Internet enables the stalker to pursue their victim without being identified.”

The advent of time and the development of technology have served as both a facilitator to curb crimes and a medium to commit crimes. The act of cybercrime does not cause a direct impact but can lead to depression, psychological traumas, anxiety and harassment for the victims. It also can cause extreme reputational damage and financial loss to a person due to loss of job or profession or huge loss in business setup of an individual.

The recent trends show that the offence of cyberstalking is increasing at an alarming rate and the biggest matter of concern is that a large part of this offence is committed by the educated and noble class of society who are deemed as right thinking members of society. This includes students; both minors and adults, professionals and even senior citizens.

Another astonishing factor that can be seen in recent reports relating to cyberstalking is that the offence of cyberstalking is committed and is targeted towards both males and females on an equal scale. The majority of people involved in committing cybercrimes are educated youth aged between 17 and 24. This is a matter of deep concern for our society as it questions the competency of existing laws on stalking and other related offences.