CYBER CRIMES IN INDIA: WHEN DOES IT BECOME A CRIMINAL OFFENCE? LEGAL ANALYSIS OF INDIA’S EVOLVING CYBER LAW FRAMEWORK

India recorded over one lakh cybercrime cases in 2024 for the first time, yet the precise point at which online conduct crosses from a civil wrong into a criminal offence remains widely misunderstood. This article examines that threshold through the dual framework of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. It identifies the five element courts consider necessary for criminal liability to attach, surveys the major offences and their punishments under Sections 66, 66C, 66D, 66F, 67A, 67B, and BNS Section 318, and analyses the constitutional limits on criminalisation as established in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015). The article concludes with practical remedies available to victims and observations on the enforcement gaps that laws alone cannot close.