ANTI-BULLYING LAWS IN INDIA
BY - GARIMA
(RAYAT COLLEGE OF LAW, ROPAR)
The practice of cyber bullying is causing tons hue and cry within the whole legal world but still there are not any special laws to affect cyber bullying in India. it's become more common with the approaching of internet .
It is defined as “to bully a private with use of electronic media to bully a personal on internet, specially by sending threatening messages to threaten that person” . during a rustic like India, where there aren't any specific legislation to affect cyber bullying but there are provisions like article 67 of IT Act which partially affect such matters. Here in India there are not any separate legislation to affect bullying at the varsity level. Bullying is additionally prevalent at college level in India, especially it takes place in boarding schools in India. Adolescents are easily trapped in cyber crimes committed by anonymous persons. The anonymous user sends horrible and insulting messages over internet to defame the targeted person.
The given paper deals with the problem of cyber bullying , its consequences , the laws related to cyber bullying in India , the types and forms of cyber bullying and various platforms where it takes place . How the cyber bullying is an offence , the situation of a victim person of bullying , the steps that could be taken to stop and avoid the practice of cyber bullying and also it covers the suggestions to curb the above problem.
There are also some suggestions that should be used by the Indian Law making body and also the parents and teachers of the students so that they could not get engaged in such malicious activities.
Cyber bullying means bullying a private which is with help of digital and electronic devices like mobiles, computers ,laptops , tablets ,ipads instant messaging, SMS, virtually on social media platforms. Sending, sharing or posting mean, harmful, insulting or false information about someone defines bullying . Thus it's defined as a criminal offense.
What is Cyber bullying or Anti-bullying?
To define bullying the foremost acceptable definition of cyber bullying which has been used is “an aggressive, intentional act or behavior that's administered by a gaggle or a private, using electronic sorts of contact, repeatedly and over-time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself.” There are variations to the present definition explaining the meaning of bullying but cybercrime experts have accepted this definition.
In India cyber bullying includes sharing private or personal information of the targeted one that's being bullied which may cause embarrassment thereto specific person or his family.
Place where cyber bullying takes place are as follows :
a) On Social Media handles like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Linkedin etc.
b) Direct SMS
c) Instant Messenger Services like Whatsapp messenger, Facebook messenger, Instagram message, etc.
d) By emailing that person directly.
Cyber bullying is of different forms which includes the followings:
a) Humiliating or embarrassing or insulting content posted online about the victim of online bullying,
b) Hacking of the account of the victim.
c) Posting vulgar messages about him/her.
d) Threatening the victim to undertake to some act otherwise the harmful content are getting to be posted about him on social media.
e) Child pornography or threats of kid pornography
Facts of Cyber bullying
Now let me show you some facts of cyber bullying , which can cause you to understand it better:
a) 1 in 4 kids are bullied quite once and in total 43% of the youngsters have fallen prey to cyber bullying or anti-bullying
b) India ranks at number 3 within the list of online bullying cases as per the survey conducted by Microsoft in 2012 in 25 countries
c) Facebook covers a large portion of cyber bullying activities.
d) Usage of mobile phones by almost 80% of the teenagers makes it a typical and hottest medium for anti-bullying
e) 90% of teenagers accept the actual fact that they have received harassing messages on social media that they have ignored.
f) Mostly the ladies are more victims then the boys.
g) Victims of cyber bullying or anti-bullying are 2 to 9 times more susceptible to committing suicide.
Cyber bullying laws in India
To have a transparent understanding of cyber law in India, it is necessary to know the proper and exact meaning of bullying and what's cyber bullying in India.
Bullying means inflicting physical or physiological pain and hurt due to distress, the victim of which are mostly students and employees. With the recognition of the web within the youth, it's mostly teens who are the perpetrators also because the victims of anti-bullying or cyber bullying and thus school bullying is extremely common.
There is no specific legislation that gives for the proper cyber bullying laws in India, however provisions like Section 67 of the Information Technology Act deals with cyber bullying . Section 67 of the act provides the punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material on electronic media for a term which can reach five years and also with fine which can reach upto ten lakh rupees.
Some other provisions for the cyber bullying laws in India are :
a) 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 for up to 2 years. By virtue of word anonymous the offense of anti-bullying and cyber bullying is included during this section.
b) Section 66 E of IT Act - The section prescribes punishment for violation of privacy. The section states that a private who intentionally violates the privacy by transmitting, capturing or publishing private pictures of others shall be punished with up to 3 years imprisonment or fine up to 3 lakhs.
Laws in India for anti bullying in Schools and Colleges
To affect bullying at college there's no separate legislation in India but there's a dire got to stop bullying. Bullying in schools and particularly in boarding schools is really prevalent in India. to prevent bullying in schools anti-ragging committees are formed to punish the students who were involved within the anti-bullying activities. The punishment are often up to rustication of the scholar within the rare of the rarest case. In India, the Hon’ble Supreme Court constituted a committee under Dr R K Raghavan to supply recommendations to manage ragging and bullying in schools and colleges everywhere India . The committee released its report within the year 2007.
Similarly, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has also established anti-ragging committees within the UGC approved colleges and universities. UGC further said that the faculties and universities are mandated to follow the anti-ragging rules and if they fail to suits the principles of anti-ragging UGC can forfeit their recognition. To prevent bullying at colleges and universities “UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in education Institutions, 2009” has been enacted. Often the students studying in schools are juveniles and juveniles in our country are treated differently under the Juvenile Justice Act.
Additionally, a university student who is the offender of cyberbullying also can be made criminally liable under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Steps to be Taken by a Cyber-bullying Victim
When a private is being a victim of cyber bullying he can file a complaint under Indian code, under I.T. Act, 2000.
The victim should report the matter to his/her institution , so that the institution could punish the bully rather than just ignoring them or giving warnings. Colleges and school should give severe, harsh punishment to bully to supply the victim justice.
How to Stop Bullying?
Following are the steps that one can take to stop bullying :
a) Don't respond or retaliate - Sometimes all the perpetrators attempt to hunt down could even be a reaction as consistent with them by responding to them you're giving them power over and you and if you don’t respond or retaliate you're actually curbing their power. If the matter persists you can make a complaint to the enforcement agencies for your protection.
b) Keep the evidence save - within the cases of cyber bullying the sole positive aspect for the victim is that they are getting to capture and save the evidence of cyber bullying and will show an equivalent for proving that they need fallen prey to the offense of cyber bullying. It becomes important to stay all the pieces of evidence like messages, posts, comments saved. Many websites have a no-tolerance policy and if you make a complaint against them they are going to need it down.
c) Reach out for help – as soon as possible , inform or complain the regulatory authority. One can even consult a cyber crime lawyer. They are going to not only advise you but will assist you within the entire procedure and should get out of things of cyber bullying. They are going to concentrate to you, process your situation, help and assist you to figure through it.
d) Use technology - Most social media apps provide the choice of either reporting a person or blocking the person who has been harassing you. this is able to possibly not end the matter instantly but when the bully founds out that he has been blocked or reported he might end it.
e) keep your account safe- to prevent bullying don't give passwords to anyone not even to your best friends. Always keep your phones and accounts password protected and don't let anybody to snoop through your sensitive information.
f) Being kind to others online will help you to stay safe. don't share anything which may hurt or embarrass anyone.
g) Manage who sees what you post online- Complete strangers? Friends? Friends of friends? Privacy settings allow you to manage who sees what.
h) Don't open emails from sources you don’t not know and don't download attachments unless you're expecting an attachment from someone.
i) Stop downloading free media from downloading software that's not legally approved and thus, not regulated.
With umpteen numbers of reports of cyber bullying through the online by the youth, it's become a big problem for the schools, parents, law and justice machinery and thus the society as a whole to require care of peace and inculcate good values within the youth.
Cyber bullying remains a haul that's mostly neglected in India. There are laws to prevent ragging but there are no specific laws to prevent cyber bullying in India. Many cyber bullying incidents have occurred in India but are still not reported. they're reported only when they cause vigorous criminal activities like murder, abduction or kidnapping . When bullying is mediated or controlled to a specific extent by the teachers, counsellors and fogeys, Internet gave a virtual uncontrolled play ground for youth to undertake to all or any sorts of mischief. Every educated Indian including the youth features a second life in today’s worlds through the web which is anonymous in majority of the cases.
· Counselling of the students are often done to curtail their bullying behavior.
· There must be social awareness programs to help the students.
· The youth must be taught its limitations so as that cyber bullying are often curbed.
· Most of the people agree that bullying behavior of the scholar is on the environment during which he lives whether it's school , college or reception too.
· The parents, teachers , wardens all should keep an eye fixed on the kids and also make them aware about the results of that.
· Blog ipleaders
· Legal era online
· Indian Kanoon
· Law Times Journal
[DISCLAIMER: This article is for general information only. We have tried to include as much information as possible but there are chances that some important information may have been missed .It is NOT to be substituted for legal advice or taken as legal advice. The publishers of the this article shall not be liable for any act or omission based on this note].