CYBER-BULLYING AND LEGAL REMEDIES IN INDIA

^[1]Understanding Cyberbullying:-

Cyberbullying is a practice of using your strength or power to petrify or frighten someone by sending messages or creating and posting social media content of an intimidating, mocking or threatening nature and consequently make them to do somethings on command. Even the misuse of power or authority to intentionally cause grief or humiliation via online platforms is considered as Cyberbullying.

It can take place through Social media, Text and online messaging, Email, Online forums, message boards, chat rooms and Online communities.

Most of the times cyberbullying is taken as wisecrack, which is misunderstood by many people especially when done by someone in a fiduciary relationship. Posting hurtful and embarrassing comments, spreading rumors and false information, Doctoring images, hate speeches, posting derogatory content, threatening or telling a person to harm themselves, posting grief-causing videos or publishing someone’s personal information are all ways of cyberbullying

The 2022~ School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey held that nationwide, among students aged 12-18 in grade 6-12 respectively were bullied during school and 21.6% were a victim of cyberbullying. The 2023 ~ Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) indicates that almost around 16 percent of junior college students were electronically bullied in a span of 12 months prior to the commission of the survey.

There are various kinds of Cyberbullying, namely Persistent, Permanent, Hard to notice, Cyberstalking, Trickery and Trolling.

1. Persistent Cyberbullying ~ As social media platforms are easily available and accessible to all so this genre of bullying prevails all the time. The exposure leads to severe grief and an individual hardly finds little to no relief due to its permanent nature. This can cause long term effect on a person and can be the cause of mental disorders like depression.
2. Permanent Cyberbullying ~ The particular kind of bullying is done via online platforms and leaves an enduring or perpetual digital footprint, which if not reported never gets deleted. The continuing factor can affect lifetime of a person and can defame the reputation of the person for life.
3. Hard to notice ~ Such cyberbullying doesn’t gain much attention due to its short-term effects. The awareness of this type of bullying between parents, guardians, or teachers fails to gain importance, thereby giving assailant an undue advantage.
4. Cyberstalking ~ This includes keeping an eye on the victim, monitoring, making false statements and threats via online means. This might extend to unforeseen events like physical attacks or misbehavior.
5. Trickery ~ In this state of Cyberbullying an individual, gains the trust of the victim by assuring them with false security and eventually taking advantage of the trust invested, leaks private information or gains money.
6. Trolling ~ The assailant posts offensive content or comments that mentally harasses the victim.

Cybercrimes in India range from Hacking, data theft, financial frauds, phishing, ransomware to cyberbullying, digital arrest, stalking and doxing (unauthorized use or release of private information). Cybercrimes are on all-time high in India at 69% from 2022-2023.

^[2]Cyberbullying under Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Information Technology Act 2000.

The Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita has explicitly made provisions to highlight and prevent the issue of cyberbullying. It recognizes Cyberbullying as a crime that harms an individual and society as a whole. Sections clearly define and mention various kinds of cyberbullying with adequate punishments. Let’s deeply understand the provisions under Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita ~

1. Section 74~ Section 74 is not purely dedicated to cyberbullying, but it can be applied to online acts that constitute “Assault or criminal force against women with intent to outrage her modesty” in a digital context.
2. Section 75 ~ This provision speaks about sexual harassment which can also take place via online platforms like asking for sexual favors on social media, showing pornography without consent, posting private pictures of the victim etc.
3. Section 78 ~ This section deals with the offence of stalking, which includes monitoring the woman through her electronic communications, calling the individual repeatedly, Tempering his/her electronic devices etc.
4. Section 79 ~ This section criminalizes any word, gesture or act intended to insult a woman’s modesty in consideration with online actions. The law protects the dignity of a woman both offline and online. Sending inappropriate messages to a woman, posting her images without consent, asking for sexual favors, threatening a woman or asking her to do or not to do something, misbehaving or making colored remarks are punishable under this section.
5. Section 111~ This section criminalizes organized crime which includes series of offences that have been committed either by an individual or group of individuals to carry out a specific task. This may include the commission of crime like doxing, threats, physical or sexual violence, offensive messages or making derogatory statements via online platforms.
6. Section 196 ~ This section criminalizes acts that promote enmity, hatred or a feeling of discontent between groups based on caste, religion, race, place of birth etc. this can take place through online platforms. Usually the preparation and propagation of such acts are done via electronic systems.
7. Section 318~ It involves deceiving someone to deliver property by manipulating then to consent to property retention, this is known as cheating which one of the most common offence done via electronic means.
8. Section 351 ~ This defines criminal intimidation which means to threaten or put a person in fear of life or imminent danger or injury to make them to do something or omit an act.
9. Section 356 ~ Refers to the offence of defamation which means ambushing someone’s reputation by making false statements. This is one of the most casual form of cyberbullying which takes place through content creation, posting hurtful posts about someone, writing derogatory comments or posting false statements which might be a private information.

The IT Act of year 2000 also mentions about cyberbullying indirectly through sections 66C, 66D AND 67.

1. Section 66C ~ It criminalizes identity theft which means impersonating someone for dishonest use of electronic signatures, password or unique identification features. This can cause major information leak which is confidential, May harm person mentally, physically or monetarily.
2. Section 66D ~ Holds an individual criminally responsible for cheating by personating using computer or communication device.
3. Section 67 ~ The act punishes transmission of obscene material without consent via electronic forms.

All these sections stated above tackles the issue of cyberbullying indirectly by providing adequate punishments like imprisonment and fine. Though there are no sections under Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 or Information IT Act 2000 that clearly addresses Cyberbullying as a crime with definite punishment yet, but these sections cover offences of cyberbullying concomitantly.

^[3]Limitations of Existing legal Framework in Addressing Cyberbullying.

1. Lack of dedicated law on Cyberbullying ~ The existing framework of our judiciary does not involve any section or provision that is solely dedicated to Cyberbullying. With the growing crime rate in cyberbullying the existing framework is functional but not adequate to solve the problem prevailing in the society. Crimes of online abuse do not fall under the ambit of obscene, threatening or fraudulent, hence they fall outside the ambit of criminal law. The abuse through electronic platforms are often misinterpreted which often cause harm to the reputation or proof of threat.
2. Unsecured Online platforms ~ The electronic platforms are not secured which causes critical information leak or Unwanted inappropriate messages that can cause mental irritation. Government should come up with initiatives to enhance cybersecurity in India.
3. Unawareness about Cyberbullying ~ The unawareness about cyberbullying is extremely low in in India therefore cases of frauds, information leaks, cheating, stalking, inappropriate posts and defamation keeps taking place. The BNS 2023 and IT ACT 2000 rely on scattered provisions so, if the constitution or the judiciary do not ingrain Cyberbullying in their curriculum it would be difficult to tackle the issue.

Conclusion

Cyberbullying is a prevalent unrecognized crime, which is often misinterpreted by the people. It can have severe impact on one’s mental, physical monetary state and hence is needed to be addressed without any delay. It is the governments responsibility to maintain law and order, and to do so they have to make provisions regarding cyberbullying to keep the society aware and induce fear in the minds of the assailants to not commit such a crime. Though the judiciary does not provide definite sections to address Cyberbullying, it is indirectly tackled through other sections provided under the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 and IT Act 2000. Our trust lies in India’s governance which will make sure that no innocent becomes the victim of Cyberbullying.

^[1] UNICEF: Unicef

https://www.unicef.org

Cyberbullying: What is it and how to stop it.

^[2] Devgan.in

https://devgan.in

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

^[3] iPleaders

What you need to know about cyberbullying and its legal remedies