Cyber Misogyny and the Inadequacy of India’s Legal Response

Cyber misogyny is often dismissed as an insignificant and virtual phenomenon. The gender-based harassment, abuse, and violence directed at women and girls through digital infrastructure represents not multiple individual incidents but a collective campaign that India’s existing legal framework is fundamentally ill-equipped to address as a separate legal offence. This article analyses the vicarious gaps of India’s legislation, specifically the Information Technology Act 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, and the Telecommunications Act 2023. It argues that these frameworks, constructed on an individual-offender morality model rooted in societal standards rather than a dignity-based framework, are incapable of handling the coordinated and structural nature of online gender-based violence against women. Through a conduct-based analysis of attacks such as non-consensual intimate image sharing, doxxing, deepfakes, and matrimonial surveillance technology, the article demonstrates that current provisions provide women with protection in theory; however, their practical application often results in either delayed or incomplete justice. This paper also draws on comparative frameworks from the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act 2023, the European Union’s Digital Services Act 2022, Australia’s Online Safety Act 2021, and India’s obligations within CEDAW’s General Recommendation No. 35. The article presents the recommendation of a dedicated cyber gender-based violence statute. Such legislation must identify cyber misogyny as a distinct legal category, impose specific platform duties with enforceable timelines, and provide civil remedies accessible independently of criminal prosecution.