Cyber bullying in india

 CASES OF CYBERBULLYING IN INDIA

 

Cyberbullying is when one person or a group of people try to threaten, tease or embarrass someone else by using a mobile phone or the Internet. Cyber bullying [can be, and is oftentimes,] just as harmful as bullying in the real world. The bullies attack many of the same characteristics of a person that a school bully would, except with the proliferation of social media, these attacks have become more personalized and may occur during any part of the day or night . What makes cyberbullying so dangerous is that it gives bullies the ability to embarrass anyone they want in public at any hour of the day, using multiple different types of technology. These can include devices such as, cell phones, instant messaging platforms, tablets, interactive gaming websites, and even email .

Instagram has also become a mode of cyber bullying. There have been cases of cyberbullying on Instagram too. It can take place through posting embarrassing photos of a person, putting hash tags which can be insulting, posting something defaming or cruel comments, creating fake profiles.18 Today, social media has become a large platform for cyber bullying. Confession pages are new and have held attention of most.19 A confession page of a community or institute allows people to post anything about anybody without their identity being revealed.

But in some cases Cyberstalking which is another kind of bullying or harassment by using electronic communications to stalk a victim may actually present a plausible and real threat to the victim’s safety, life and liberty. Children in India reported the third-highest online bullying rate, after China and Singapore, among the 25 countries surveyed under a commissioned project by Microsoft Corporation to understand the global pervasiveness of online bullying.

Although in India, there is no specific law which focuses on ‘cyber-bullying’ there are adequate provisions in three statutes, which treat it as a serious criminal offence, for instance under Indian Penal Code (IPC) there are Sections like, Section 499: for Defamation, Section 292A: dealing with Printing, etc.Finally, there is a newer law named “The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) which protects children below the age of 18 years from any form of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and pornography that includes cyberbullying as well. In India, the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Home Affairs have launched dedicated helplines and portals for reporting crimes against women and children including cybercrimes. You may visit https://cybercrime.gov.in/

​ to report cyberbullying, online harassment, and cyber defamation, particularly against women and children . 

So here are some cases of Cyberbullying in India :

 

Rithika Sharma Case :

Ritika Sharma , who studies at a prominent Delhi school, went to the police after being stalked by a Facebook user whom she had befriended on the site a month ago. She had given her cell phone number to the man who was later found to be using a fake name, photo and phone number. Experts say cyberbullying and cyberstalking are increasingly becoming a daily problem for the city's schoolkids with people using electronic communication like emailing, social networking and texting to harass or pursue them .

Ritu Kohli Case :

Ritu Kohli's Case was the first cyber stalking case reported in India. A girl named Ritu Kohli filed a complaint in 2001 that someone else is using her identity in social media and she was deliberately getting calls from different numbers she was also getting calls from abroad. A case was also filed under Section 509 of Indian penal code.

The fact that cyber stalking does not involve physical contact may create the misperception that it is more benign than physical stalking. This is not necessarily true. As the Internet becomes an ever more integral part of our personal and professional lives, stalkers can take advantage of the ease of communications as well as increased access to personal information. Whereas a potential stalker may be unwilling or unable to confront a victim in person or on the telephone, he or she may have little hesitation sending harassing or threatening electronic communications to a victim. As with physical stalking, online harassment and threats may be a prelude to a more serious behaviour, including physical violence.

All technology these days produces both good results and notable consequences. The internet is increasingly a perfect case study for this idea. While better connecting the world and democratizing information, the internet has also allowed individuals to hide behind masks of anonymity. This “faceless evil” of the internet is a growing threat for teens, specifically when it comes cyberbullying. Despite a recent ramping up of awareness campaigns, the following cyberbullying facts and statistics indicate the problem is not going away anytime soon.

 

 

Cyberbullying around the world :

International survey of adults in 28 countries which reveal an increasing number of parents have children who have experienced some form of cyberbullying.In total 20,793 interviews were conducted between March 23 – April 6, 2018, among adults aged 18-64 in the US and Canada, and adults aged 16-64 in all other countries.Of particular interest are Russia and Japan. In both countries, parents expressed extremely high levels of confidence that their children did not experience cyberbullying of any kind.

Meanwhile, Indian parents remained among the highest to express confidence that their children were cyberbullied at least sometimes, a number that only grew from 2011 to 2018. Across Europe and the Americas, it also appears more parents are either becoming aware of their children’s negative experiences with cyberbullying, or their children are increasingly experiencing such attacks online.