The Rise of Cyber-bullying
A potentially deadly web
http://www.lawabidingcitizen.in/2018/10/the-rise-of-cyber-bullying.html
Ryan Halligan was taunted for months. Classmates spread rumours via instant messaging that the 13 year old was gay. His female classmate pretended to like him and chatted with him online, only to copy their text messages to her friends. Humiliated by this, the teenager killed himself.
The Ryan Halligan Case of Vermont (2003) was the first case that dealt with the issue of cyberbullying in which the defendant was not held liable for cyberbullying the girl because of criminal law could not be applied in that matter. Recently, there have been several instances of cyber bullying of persons from LGBT group on facebook and other social media apps. Such acts make the victims depressed, isolated and sometimes even lead to suicidal tendencies.
In India, Cyber bullying was first time dealt as an issue by the Supreme Court in the landmark case of Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan(AIR 1997 SC 3011). In this while dealing with the issue of bullying guidelines to protect women from sexual harassment was laid down by the Supreme Court.
In 2006- One among a slew of notorious cases in India- 2 Ranchi boys, by manipulating computerised, imposed the face of a girl, an engineering student, over their age of somebody else's body to create a sleazy multimedia message (MMS) that could potentially defame the girl. The boys then attempted to blackmail her. When she refused, they circulated the images as MMS. She filed a complaint with the police who arrested the 2 boys.
In recent years, the victims of cyber-bullying were mainly celebrities.
The Award-winning malayalam industry actress Parvathy, who called the dialogues in veteran actor Mammootty’s film ‘misogynist’, has become the latest victim of cyber-bullying, actress was viciously trolled and abused on various online platforms by fans of the Malayalam superstar, calling her a “cheap feminist”.
However, she was not the only celebrity in the list of victims of cyber-bullying.
Her colleague from Malayalam film industry Anushree was also recently bullied by the people on internet. The actress was labelled as ' sanghi' (the one belonging to Sangha parivar activists) for participating in a Sree Krishna Jayanthi procession comducted by a temple near her house.
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These are extreme but far from unique examples of the devastation wrought by cyber bullying.
The online bullying which includes - sending threatening messages, displaying private messages and posting embarassing video footage and photos on the internet is increasing. And as online communication evolves from instant messaging to social networking, the venue's where bullying occurs are becoming more central to young people's lives and more public. Facebook and WhatsApp are main platforms for such cyberbullying.
Research into cyberbullying is still in its infancy. But it's becoming more clear that aspects of online communication encourage people to act aggressively, prompting them to do things they wouldn't dare to try in real life.
• A survey conducted by Microsoft Corporation in 2012, across 25 countries ranked India 3rd in the number of online bullying cases reported.
The ability to reach more people, and always-on culture of the internet means cyber bullying can have an even more detrimental effect on the victim than the conventional variety.
A Relentless Attack
Cyberbullying can follow victims wherever they go, whether they are in a crowd or alone. Cyberbullies can reach their victims, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They often post hurtful content online, anonymously, so that they cannot be traced or stopped.
In old days an adult can simply turn off the computer, but that's not really an option for present generation, who depend on the internet to keep in touch with peers. This is the always-on generation and this is how they communicate.
A 2017 study found that 93% of the teens who has access to internet use the internet and 75% go online daily.
The Internet doesn't just amplify the affect of bullying. The option to stay anonymous when online means people can write things they wouldn't dare to if their identity were known.
Anonymity can also amplify bullying's negative effect on the victim. The psychological ramifications of not knowing who is attacking you can be maddening.
The lack of face-to-face contact may tempt bullies to new levels of cruelty. On the playground, seeing the stress and pain of the victim can act as an inhibitor to some extend but in cyberspace where there is no visual contact, you get more extreme behaviour.
There is a distancing of the self and immediacy in response that we don't have in any other form of communication, on cyberspace, it's like it's not really you.
What can be done?
There is no specific legislation which provides for the specific cyber bullying laws in India however provisions such as Section 67 of the Information Technology Act deals with cyber bullying in a way. Section 67 of the act prescribes punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.
Other than Section 67 of the IT Act following are the provisions of the cyber bullying laws in India :
Section 507 IPC - the section states that if anyone receives criminal intimidation by way of an anonymous communication then the person giving threats shall be punished with imprisonment upto two years. By virtue of word anonymous the offence of anti bullying and cyber bullying is included in this section.
Section 66 E of IT Act - the section prescribes punishment for violation of privacy. The section states that any person who intentionally violates the privacy by transmitting, capturing or publishing private pictures of other shall be punished with upto three years imprisonment or fine upto three lakhs.
The IT Act 2000 should to be re-amended to specific provisions pertaining to cyber bullying. Further, cyber bullying needs to be made a serious offence with minimum five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 10 lakh. Unless you have deterrence in law, it will continue to be a prevalent offence.
Fortunately, till such time, these safeguards mentioned above can help prevent such acts of cyber offences.
