By Srushti Nilesh Bharne
“Cyber-crimes against women and children are on the rise and they have been drastically victimised in cyberspace.” Some perpetrators try to defame women and children by sending obscene e-mails, stalking women and children by using chat rooms, websites, etc., developing pornographic videos mostly created without their consent, spoofing e-mails, morphing of images for pornographic content, and so on. Indian women are not able to report cybercrimes immediately. Most of the problems can be solved if women report the crime immediately and warn the abuser about taking stronger action.
Cybercrimes are proliferating at a higher rate in India. Generally, Virtual friends gain the confidence of their female friends and misuse the information to mentally harass them. Such crimes are profoundly happening in India and also across the globe. For instance, blackmailing, threatening, bullying, or cheating via email is done by preparators. It often creates a problem when emails or social media messages are posted using fake accounts and thus are difficult to trace. Perpetrators frame these cyber-crimes with a particular intention such as illegal gain, revenge, insult to modesty of woman, extortion, blackmailing, sexual exploitation, defamation, incite hate against communities, satisfaction of gaining control, to steal information and also serious psychiatric illness.
Digital India is the upshot of many innovations and technological advancements. More than half the population is in not in the habit of using computers, internet and other devices. The most commonly used are social media sites (Facebook, chat rooms, Skype, WhatsApp, dating sites, etc.) On one side of the coin, digitalisation has been beneficial for the economy, education, governance etc., but on the other hand it has brought cyber-crimes also up to a large number. The definition of cybercrime continues to evolve as avenues open up that allow cyber criminals to target consumers in new ways.
Cyber-criminals use computer technology to access personal information and use internet for harassment and exploitation purposes which includes stalking, blackmailing, threatening via emails, photo morphing, cyber pornography, etc. Nowadays, perpetrators are gradually misusing cyber platforms to harass and abuse women and children for voyeuristic pleasure in India.
Women and children are mostly targeted for cyber stalking, harassment, extortion, blackmail, etc. The women often trust perpetrators and share their personal information which results in numerous cybercrimes. Many times, perpetrators get a chance to harass, abuse, blackmail, etc., the women and children more because they are unaware about the procedure of filing a complaint. Massive awareness needs to be created among women and children regarding the safe use of Mobile Phones, Computers and the Internet.
Thus, there is an urgent need to bring awareness and consciousness among women to be careful while using internet facilities and also be given proper guidance if, somehow, they face cybercrime so that they can raise their voice against it. There is also an alarming requirement for knowledge and technical enhancement for prevention of women harassment.
Major types of cybercrimes prevailing in the Indian context are cyber stalking, bullying, trolling, morphing and phishing. But many of them have no safeguard in our prevailing legal system. Thus, a clause must be included in the Information Technology Act, 2000 which will contain all rules concerned with protection of electronic devices and another clause must be included which will focus on legal backing so that the evidence could be used in courts.
There are no Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) formulated for dealing with issues of cybercrimes. Proper training must be given to officers regarding SOP formulation and operationalisation of devised protocols. Also, lack of officers in cyber cells is another major problem. Therefore, there is a requirement for posting capable officers who have adequate knowledge about various cybercrimes and technical knowledge of using computer resources, ethical hacking, etc.
It has been identified that international cooperation has not been standardised. If a case of cybercrime involves another country, then procedure gets lengthy and several regulations must be followed. Foreign service providers are not cooperative during investigations due to cross border legal issues. It is suggested that changes should be made in regulations regarding decoding of IP Address to service providers and all service providers must put their servers in India to track IP Address for fast and better investigation. There must be inter-country investigation. A transnational treaty must be signed to effectively control cybercrimes.
Many women do not register complaints because of the lengthy procedure and further due to fear of disclosing their identity. Mostly, when a woman gets trolled on social media sites, people blame her for being online or active on social media. Therefore, it is our social responsibility not to victimise women, instead help them to raise their voice against such criminal offences. It has been noticed that some women boldly reply to trolls but, even then, they are stigmatised. Women do not have sufficient knowledge regarding privacy settings and using technology, thus training must be imparted to women during awareness campaigns, and they should be given knowledge about enhancing their privacy. Therefore, community-based awareness campaigns must be organised by professional people who have advanced knowledge about technology and have experience in handling cybercrimes. Even if victims complain, police investigate, there are not enough number of e-courts where the cases can be resolved.
Major Problems are noted below:
Woman and child cyber harassment and related cyber-crimes remain overwhelmingly underreported due to associated stigma and propensity of parents/guardians to not involve police in such matters.
Perpetrators know their victims well or they are related to them. Women are mostly unaware about privacy policies and safety tips for using social media sites. Women are less proficient in using technology.
Process of reporting such cybercrime against woman needs to be simplified and identity of woman and children involved protected to ensure such crimes do not go unreported. It is necessary to simplify and strengthen cybercrime investigation involving woman and children.
Cyber laws have not been formulated properly and the procedure for registering a complaint is not known to woman.
There has been unembellished under-reporting of cyber-crimes, i.e., online harassment of women and child sex abuse in India. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) of India does not maintain any separate record of cyber-crimes against children and woman.
The data collected by NCRB currently is simple and provides an insight into the state of law enforcement in the country as it is unbelievable that in most of the states there is no incidence of online woman harassment or child sex abuse. The data indicates extremely deprived law enforcement regarding these crimes, as it only gathers information of reported cases and fails to throw light on true occurrence rate of such crimes. It does not depict actual number of incidents.
No Digital Police Portal exists currently about women and children who face increasing instances of abuse on online platforms.
Harassment and exploitation of women in cyber space is increasing with updated technology and anonymity. It takes huge time for investigation and many times cases are unsolved due to lack of Cyber Forensics laboratories.
Cyber criminals use digital media to harass women and even the legal system is not defining the cyber laws in a holistic way. There is a need to use law as an instrument of change and, thus, law makers should focus upon substantive equality. Trolling should be defined well, and scope of the cyber laws must get widened. Major legal lacuna is not having clauses for many common cybercrimes in the legal system.
Foreign Service Providers are not enough cooperative during investigations due to cross border issues.
Suggested Measures and Proposed Solution Framework
It is high time to call for modernisation of the preventive set up for cybercrimes and to equip police personnel with suitable knowledge and skills. Some of the solutions are given below:
NCRB should assemble all the cases of woman and child harassment and other cybercrimes under a separate category so that performance of law enforcement agencies in this regard could be discerned and observed properly.
Law enforcement agencies and police force need to be sensitised to the challenging facets of cyber-crimes against woman and children and their dimensions to record and initiate action against such crimes needs to be strengthened urgently.
There should be a Digital Police Portal or E-Portal where woman can report their problems online. This could reduce the number of cases under-reported due to associated stigma and propensity of parents/guardians to not involve police in such matters. A portal that also maintains the database of criminals could really help law enforcement.
It is needed to sync, both, police force and cyber forensic laboratories together for better investigation.
Girls should be made aware about all types of cybercrimes and how to handle them. Spreading awareness regarding safe internet use and complying procedure should be done among women.
The school curriculum must cover all aspects of cybercrimes.
It is suggested that all international service providers must put their servers in India for fast and better investigation.
We can see that the implementation of cyber laws is inadequate, and people are unaware of the laws and, still, there is less emphasis on cyber security.
- Education pillar strengthens the education system in terms of digital India. Girls should get capacity building classes or workshops at the school level. These capacity building workshops explore knowledge of tackling cybercrimes by using latest technologies and girls should be made aware about handling technologies and knowledge regarding privacy settings. It encourages women to participate more in digital media and be equipped to handle matters regarding cybercrimes. School curriculum must cover all aspects of cybercrimes and cyber security. School curriculum should include the following points: Digital world; Do’s and Don’ts; Digital Etiquette; E-Safety and security; Cyber Law in Brief; Legal Recourse; Prosecution.
- Empowerment encourages women to raise their voice against cybercrime. This could create an environment where women have equality at each level, i.e., socially, economically, politically, mentally and so on.
Legal Empowerment could be done by legislating required rules and guidelines with their implementation.
Social Empowerment: This could encourage the victims to raise voice against their sufferings. NGOs can play a vital role to provide a rightful platform where victims can get legal and procedural guidance.
Mental Empowerment: The most important step in the success of women to combat harassment in digital space. The most effective change can be brought by glorifying the victim’s zeal to fight harassment.
Legal Recourse: This pillar will work like a bridge and put a connection between women and law enforcement. So, there should be a Digital police portal, i.e., e-portal or e-courts where women can report their problems online and obtain remedy easily and securely with less time and effort. This could reduce the number of cases under-reported case due to lengthy procedure, associated stigma and propensity of parents/guardians to not involve police. These e-portal also should maintain the database of cases and criminals which could really help law enforcement. Advanced Technology and anonymity create hurdles in investigation of cybercrime cases. It takes a lot of time for investigation and many times cases remain unsolved. Therefore, law enforcement should be incorporated with Cyber Forensics laboratories for fast investigation.
(Srushti Nilesh Bharne is a freelance writer, ex-student of St Joseph’s Academy, Dehradun. She works for awareness generation on cybercrime against women; writes blogs, and conducts Awareness Camps in Schools.)
