Once in a while in this pervasive age of the internet, something happens that stirs-up the status quo and demands a closer look at how safe the internet really is. There is no denying that the internet today is a vast new frontier on which human beings are communicating like never before in history. And, with it comes the debates of how regulated this space should be, what should be the line between free speech and regulated speech. Be that as it may, in light of recent events, we have been forced to wonder how to protect ourselves online. Although, online harassment has been spoken about extensively, yet it keeps throwing us new challenges with its dilution of the line between public and private spaces.
Here, it may be noted that it is particularly disconcerting considering how many young impressionable minors are increasingly accessing the internet. For that reason, it is more important than ever before to protect young people from the trauma and pain of online harassment. Accepting that the internet is now essential to our lives, logging off is no longer an option. Nonetheless, it might be helpful to keep ourselves updated about the laws that exist to protect us and to understand the legal overview of cyber-crimes. Presented below are a few tips to keep in mind if you ever feel victimized on social media:
What are some laws that protect you?
Broadly, there are laws that apply in any public space or laws that apply specifically with respect to abuse in online spaces – the former falls under the Indian Penal Code ( IPC) and the latter falls under the Information Technology (I)T Act of 2000.
· Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code: This law deals with sexual harassment, and covers showing a woman obscene materials without her consent.
· Section 509 of the IPC: This section states that if anyone makes gestures or statements with an intent to ‘outrage the modesty of a woman’ or infringe on her privacy, with the sole intention to be witnessed by the victim, it is a crime.
· Section 354C of the IPC: This section deals with voyeurism and decrees that watching, or attempting to record women when they are engaged in private activities is a crime.
· Section 354D of the IPC: This section deals specifically with stalking and criminalizes repeated attempts at contacting a woman or following her either online or in physical spaces, without her consent.
· Section 294 of the IPC: This is the section of the law that prohibits any obscene remarks or gestures made in a public place.
· Section 503 of the IPC: This law punishes threats to physically harm a person’s body, reputation or property.
· Section 66E of the IT Act: This applies in cases of violation of privacy, sharing of private images of someone using an electronic medium without their consent.
· Section 66C & 66 D of the IT Act: This law applies to identity theft. If someone has started a fake profile, hacked or account, or impersonated you in any way in order to cheat someone, then these laws would apply.
· Section 67 & Section 67A of the IT Act: This law criminalizes sharing obscene images or material containing sexual acts using an electronic medium.
What falls within the definition of crime?
In general terms, there is no legally defined limit for when something becomes a legal offense. In the first instance, it might be helpful to report abuse to the platform on which the harassment took place. If that does not work, or if there are repeated violations, then you might want to consider taking legal resources. Principally, if you have witnessed or are facing any of the below situations, they are likely crimes:
· Someone is threatening to release morphed, or private pictures of you without your consent.
· Someone is abusing you online, which may or may not include racist, casteist, or other hateful epithets.
· Someone is stalking you, and repeatedly sending you messages on any platform, despite you having told them to stay away.
· Someone is sending you obscene material without your consent.
· Someone is threatening to harm you in any way physically.
· Someone has stolen your identity, hacked your account or is impersonating you online.
How can you complain?
As a normal course, you can complain about these crimes by approaching the Cyber Crime unit of your local police station. In contrast to other crimes, cybercrimes are deemed to have Global Jurisdiction and can be taken up by any police station regardless of whether it is a station serving your locality. So, if you cannot access a Cyber Crime unit, you can also file an FIR at your local police station. Furthermore, the Women & Child Ministry have also launched a dedicated cyber cell to aid women who are facing abuse online.
But, before you file a complaint, make sure you have collected as much evidence as you can, including profile names, screenshots, screenshots of the URLs, E-mail headers, and anything else that is relevant to the case. You will be required to furnish the originals of these documents in both hard and soft copy.
Here, it is important to remember that no conversation about harassment would go anywhere without confronting the inherent biases, the mind-sets, the bystander effect, and the social structures that enable such violence to thrive. Therefore, let us do our part, no matter what gender we are, to speak up, to say something if we see something, and to envision a world where we do not need to be locked up in locker rooms.
Notwithstanding the above mentioned legal provisions, the big challenge that we are facing today is that the law has not kept up with the times. The internet is simply too vast and has moved just too fast to effectively regulate. The nature of evidence considered, the process of reporting, the understanding of the complex social structures it creates has really not caught up with the times.
Acknowledging this as a social need and taking this as a responsibility, we at Asian Law College (ALC), offer dedicated courses on Cyber Law – namely, ‘DIPLOMA IN CYBER LAW from Asian School of Cyber Law’ as a collaborative program in addition to our core academic programmes of B.A.LL. B & LL.B. – infusing tech education with legal knowledge to ensure that we create a pool of lawyers who can better understand and protect the victims of online harassment. Offered by Asian School of Cyber Law – the global pioneer in cyber law & cyber-crime investigation – this field of law is definitely witnessing significant advancement with the rapid increase in the information and communication technology.
In conclusion, it can only be said that the world today definitely needs a lot many attorneys who can really understand the predicament of victims, empathize with them, and articulate the conundrums in legal language. Here at Asian Law College, we strongly hope that with our forward-thinking programs, we will be able to bridge that gap to a meaningful extent!
