Cyberstalking: Meaning, Laws, and Legal Remedies

What is Cyberstalking?

Cyberstalking refers to the use of the internet or digital technologies to harass, threaten, or repeatedly target an individual, group, or organisation. It can include acts such as online monitoring, spreading false information, identity theft, threats, doxing, blackmail, or unwanted sexual solicitation. These actions intrude into a person’s digital life and often cause serious mental, emotional, and psychological harm, affecting their sense of safety online.

Cyberstalking may occur on its own or alongside offline stalking, and in many jurisdictions, both are treated as criminal offences. The perpetrator may be a stranger or someone known to the victim and can even act anonymously or encourage others to participate. Most legal systems address cyberstalking under anti-stalking, harassment, and defamation laws, with penalties ranging from restraining orders and probation to fines and imprisonment.

Meaning and Scope

Cyberstalking has been defined in various ways by legal experts and lawmakers, but it is generally understood as the use of the internet or electronic communication to repeatedly stalk, harass, or threaten an individual, group, or organisation. It is closely linked to cyberbullying, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. Common acts include spreading false information, defamation, online monitoring, identity theft, threats, unwanted sexual advances, or collecting personal data to intimidate the victim.

Cyberstalking often occurs alongside offline stalking and may amount to a criminal offence even when individual acts appear harmless on their own. It is a continuous pattern of unwanted behaviour that intrudes into the victim’s personal life and causes mental and emotional distress. As scholars note, cyberstalking functions as a form of psychological harm, where repeated digital intrusions, taken together, seriously affect a victim’s sense of safety and well-being.

Distinction Between Cyber-Trolling and Cyber-Stalking

Cyberstalking vs Identity Theft (Alexis Moore’s Distinction)

Identifying and Recognising Cyberstalking

• Cyberstalking is indicated by conduct showing malice, premeditation, repetition, obsession, and personal targeting, causing distress and ignoring requests to stop.
• Posting false or defamatory content online to damage the victim’s reputation through websites, blogs, social media, or public forums.
• Attempting to collect personal information about the victim by contacting friends, family, colleagues, or monitoring online activity.
• Encouraging third parties to harass the victim by sharing personal details or making false allegations.
• Falsely claiming to be the victim or alleging that the victim is the harasser.
• Attacking the victim’s data or devices through malware or viruses.
• Misusing the victim’s identity to order unwanted goods or subscriptions.
• Attempting to arrange in-person meetings, especially targeting minors or young individuals.
• Repeatedly posting derogatory or humiliating content online to provoke fear or emotional harm.

Types of Cyberstalking

Cyberstalking can take various forms, depending on the relationship between the stalker and the victim, the motive involved, and the method employed.

Stalking by strangers occurs when the perpetrator has no prior relationship with the victim. Such cyberstalkers actively search online spaces for vulnerable targets and may come from any age group or background, making them difficult to predict or identify.

Gender-based cyberstalking, also referred to as online gender-based violence, involves harassment targeted at individuals because of their gender. This often includes threats of sexual violence, doxing, and intimidation, and can force victims to limit or completely withdraw from online participation, affecting their dignity, autonomy, and opportunities.

Cyberstalking by intimate partners involves the online harassment of a current or former romantic partner and is recognized as a form of digital domestic abuse. The aim is typically control and isolation, achieved through repeated threats, monitoring digital activity, impersonation, and misuse of personal information.

Cyberstalking of celebrities and public figures commonly arises from delusions of familiarity, where the stalker believes they have a personal connection with the victim. Public visibility increases the risk of harassment, false allegations, and obsessive behaviour, sometimes disguised as fandom.

Cyberstalking by anonymous online mobs is enabled by social media and digital platforms that allow large groups to coordinate harassment anonymously. These attacks often involve threats, defamation, doxing, and manipulated content. Group dynamics intensify the abuse, reducing individual accountability and escalating aggression.

Corporate cyberstalking occurs when companies harass individuals online or when individuals or groups target organisations. Such acts are often driven by ideological motives, revenge, or financial gain, and may include sustained online campaigns to intimidate or damage reputations.

Who Commits Cyberstalking?

Motives and Psychological Profile of Cyberstalkers

Studies on digital offenders show that cyberstalkers are often driven by a mix of psychological and social factors. Common motives include envy, obsession (sexual or professional), personal failure, unemployment, revenge for real or imagined rejection, and a desire to intimidate or control others. Many cyberstalkers are delusional, believing they have a personal connection with the victim, and rely on online anonymity to act without fear of consequences. Some are motivated by financial gain or business rivalry.

Types of Cyberstalkers

Researchers have identified four main categories of cyberstalkers:

• Vindictive cyberstalkers, who carry out aggressive and hostile attacks.
• Composed cyberstalkers, whose aim is mainly to annoy or disturb.
• Intimate cyberstalkers, who seek a relationship and turn hostile if rejected.
• Collective cyberstalkers, where groups target victims for shared motives.

Experts note that cyberstalkers often show little empathy, enjoy exercising power, and derive satisfaction from psychologically harming their victims.

Common Behavioural Patterns

Cyberstalkers typically locate victims through search engines, online forums, chat rooms, and social media platforms. Their behaviour may include repeated messages, online harassment, sending malicious emails or viruses, posting defamatory or humiliating content, impersonation, and creating fake profiles or blogs in the victim’s name. Once the victim responds, the stalker often intensifies the harassment by tracking online activity or attempting to trace IP addresses.

In some cases, cyberstalking escalates into offline stalking, involving threatening calls, vandalism, trespassing, or physical harm. Research has also highlighted that many victims—particularly women seeking relationships online—often underestimate the risks, falsely assuming a greater level of safety in digital spaces.

Legal Framework Governing Cyberstalking

India does not have a single, standalone law titled “cyberstalking”, but cyberstalking is addressed through multiple provisions under existing criminal and cyber laws. The following laws are factually accurate and commonly applied:

• Information Technology Act, 2000
  • Section 66E – Punishes violation of privacy, including capturing or transmitting private images without consent.
  • Section 67 – Deals with publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form.
  • Section 67A – Punishes transmission of sexually explicit content online.
  • Section 67B – Protects children from online sexual exploitation and harassment.
• Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860
  • Section 354D – Specifically defines and criminalises stalking, including monitoring or contacting a woman through electronic means.
  • Section 507 – Criminal intimidation by anonymous communication.
  • Section 509 – Insulting the modesty of a woman through words, gestures, or electronic communication.
  • Section 499 & 500 – Defamation, applicable to online defamatory content.
  • Section 506 – Criminal intimidation, including online threats.
• Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973
  • Enables victims to file complaints, seek investigation, and obtain protection through criminal procedure.
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
  • Applies in cases where cyberstalking is committed by an intimate partner or family member and forms part of domestic abuse.
• Cyber Crime Cells and CERT-In Guidelines
  • Law enforcement agencies and cyber crime cells handle complaints related to cyberstalking under the above laws

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