Cyber bullying in India

Cyber bullying has emerged to be one of the most significant problems teenagers seem to face online on a daily basis in some way or the other. It affects people mentally and may lead to long term psychological problems in the future. There are many forms in which bullying can take place. However, cyber bullying was not a prevalent issue until the end of 2000 around which internet services were widely spread across the globe and needless to mention it brought about a plethora of positive as well as negative repercussions in the society.

Cyber bullying basically covers bullying that occurs using digital advancements which include but are not limited to mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops. Social media plays a significant role in helping cyber bullying to be a growing issue amidst the other societal ones in this generation. Although anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying, teenagers seem to be the most affected ones among all age groups.
Cyber bullying covers a wide range when it comes to the form in which it takes place starting from hateful comments, abusive text messages, negative and false information, character assasination to doxing i.e puclicly posting private conversations/ information without a proper permission from their side. Creating fake profiles with a picture and information of someone else without their permission is also a form of doxing which at times can be really dangerous to deal with.

Triggering certain religious beliefs and values can also be considered as a form of cyber bullying which is mainly seen in countries like India and Bangladesh which have a drastic range of diversity and differences of religious believers residing within them. This issue can get really ugly sometimes and it may also lead to real life violent instances if not taken care of from the very beginning.

The graph of cyber bullying in India seems to have taken a sudden spike in the scenario due to its wide availability and access to various internet services that have been made available for almost everyone across the country. Statistics show 7 out of every 10 people face harassments online in the form of online insults and abuses and misusing of personal pictures.

Although anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying regardless of their gender and age, teenage girls happen to be the ones who are more likely to be harassed on a daily basis.
There have been many instances where these kinds of harassments have led to heinous crimes like murder, rape and suicide. According to a recent report(TOI), a 17 year old committed suicide after her friend morphed her picture and uploaded it on social media. In 2018 a boy from UK killed himself after being subjected to cyber bullying. In the same year a 25 year old woman killed herself after being subjected to constant bullying over WhatsApp by her acquaintances due to her friendship with a muslim man. Gurmehar Kaur, an Indian woman had been subjected to online harrassment in the form of abusive comments, text messages as well as murder and rape threats. Her fault was she dared to express her opinions on concepts like War, politics and Peace.There are hundreds of other similar incidents that are allegedly growing day by day.

Considering the current scenario, it seems like more safety tools and apps need to be recommended to everyone in order to create a safe online environment for everyone. Privatization should be enhanced in every way possible so that it helps in making a difference which is highly needed in our society.

– Suvasree Bandyopadhyay