Jurisdictional Vacuum In Cross-Border Cyber Terrorism: A Critical Analysis Of India's It Act And International Law
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 9
- 1 min read
Ms. Kirti, Amity Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
ABSTRACT
The proliferation of digital networks has rendered national borders increasingly porous to hostile state and non-state actors who exploit cyberspace for terrorist purposes. This article critically examines the jurisdictional vacuum that emerges when cross-border cyber terrorism defies the territorially-bound architecture of domestic legal systems, with particular reference to India's Information Technology Act, 2000 (as amended in 2008) and its interplay with the evolving corpus of international law. By interrogating Section 66F of the IT Act and the extra-territorial reach afforded under Section 752, and the legislative gaps in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the article demonstrates that India's domestic legal framework, while structurally ambitious, remains operationally inadequate in the face of sophisticated transnational cyber threats. The article further analyses India's deliberate abstention from the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and its strategic pivot towards the United Nations-led framework, arguing that this geopolitical positioning has inadvertently deepened the jurisdictional lacuna. Drawing on landmark incidents—including the 2020 Mumbai power grid cyberattack and the 2022 AIIMS ransomware intrusion—as well as comparative jurisprudence, the article advances structural recommendations for legislative reform, bilateral treaty engagement, and institutional capacity- building to address the tripartite deficit of prescription, adjudication, and enforcement that characterises India's response to transnational cyber terrorism.
Keywords: Cyber Terrorism, Jurisdictional Vacuum, IT Act 2000, Section 66F, Budapest Convention, International Cybercrime Law, Extra-territorial Jurisdiction, Cross-border Cybercrimes, India, MLAT, UN Cybercrime Treaty, National Security Law.
