one can even be driven to acts of self harm, anger outbursts, disturbed sleep-wake schedule, paranoia and a feeling of insecurity.

So, are there no laws that deal with children affected with cyber bullying and online abuse?

"There is no law that deals with cyber-bullying and online abuse specifically directed at children, nor should there be. The criminalisation of speech is only acceptable in a very narrow set of cases, as the Supreme Court has again stressed in its recent judgment on the Shreya Singhal case (striking down section 66A of the IT Act). Bullying, as well as verbal online abuse of women in fact, in many cases does not fall within those parameters," Kovacs explained.

Because the law "doesn't and shouldn't apply in so many cases of abuse", non-legal measures to address the problem should be looked at, she added.

Stressing that sensitisation was a must, Halder said: "NGO-police and NGO-stakeholders or expert-stakeholder partnerships are a must. Above all, government should consider creating good laws regulating bad speech on the internet."

Noting that 13+ is the age most complaints come from, Rakshit Tandon, advisor to the cyber crime cell of the Gurgaon police said many such cases go unreported.

"...or we can say people are not aware of how and where to report; and many other factors also stop them from reporting. Awareness, education and cyber law should be taught to children. (It should be taught) right from the basic classes as a subject, as we learn moral science which prepares us for moral values in life same way cyber hygiene/netiquette and digital moral science should be taught to netizens," Tandon told