A LEGAL STUDY ON DRUG TRAFFICKING WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO NDPS ACT 1985

In recent years, the rapid growth of digital technology has significantly transformed not only
everyday life but also the manner in which crimes are committed, as criminal activities have
increasingly shifted from physical spaces to digital platforms. The expansion of internet
connectivity, the widespread use of smartphones, and the growing dependence on digital
financial systems have created new opportunities for criminal behaviour, leading to a notable
rise in cybercrimes such as hacking, identity theft, phishing, financial fraud, and large-scale
data breaches, which are becoming more frequent and highly sophisticated in nature. These
developments have created serious challenges for law enforcement agencies, as traditional
investigative methods that rely primarily on physical evidence are often inadequate to deal with
digital offences effectively, thereby making it necessary to adopt more advanced and
technology- oriented approaches in criminal investigations. In this context, cyber forensics has
emerged as a crucial component of modern criminal investigations, as it provides a systematic
and scientific method for identifying, collecting, preserving, analysing, and presenting digital
evidence in a manner that ensures its admissibility in courts of law, while also enabling
investigators to reconstruct events and identify offenders by tracing digital footprints left
behind in various forms of electronic data. This paper seeks to analyse the role of cyber forensics
in criminal investigations with particular reference to India by examining its development,
techniques, legal framework, and practical challenges, while also considering the role of the
judiciary and comparing practices with other countries in order to highlight the need for
strengthening cyber forensic mechanisms for effective administration of justice in the digital
era.