Cyber Crimes Against Women : What do the Indian Laws Say?
CYBER CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN: WHAT DO THE INDIAN LAWS SAY?
- Shreyaa Mohanty, National Law University, Odisha
India aces the list of the countries with the most number of internet users and the most number of sexual harassment cases against Women. Today, Internet is the new opium of masses in India. But does it not come at a cost where in a country like India so deep rooted with Patriarchy, the crimes, violence and sexual harassment against women in the cyber space is actually an add-on to violence and crimes on women that happen in the real world? The growing number of internet users every day coupled and with the access of the internet becoming easier and simpler day by day coupled with the malicious intentions of some of the people who use this advancement as a tool to target the vulnerable, has led to the sharp increase in rate of cyber offences against women. The offender has the liberty to sit behind the computer screen and target anyone anonymously. What they do, the internet does not seem to forget, it stays there. This article discusses the highest reported cyber offences that happen against women in India.
Cyber Pornography/ Hosting/ Publishing Obscene Sexual Material
According to the NCRB Crime In India Report 2017, 6.2% of the 4242 cyber crime cases reported in 2017 come under these 3 categories. Cyber pornography is when the cyberspace is used to create, publish, transfer or circulate pornographic material. IPC S.292 deals with pornography and defines ‘obscene’ and makes any kind of distribution, sale, transfer, publishing, printing of any obscene material punishable with imprisonment for up to 2 years or fine of Rs.2000 or both. S.67 of the IT Act, 2000 makes circulation, selling, distribution of obscene material a punishable offence with a “term up to 3 years of imprisonment and fine of Rs.500". S.67A of the IT Act states that “whoever publishes/transmits in electrical form any material which contains sexually explicit act or conduct shall be punished with imprisonment of 5 years and fine which may extend to 10 lakh rupees.
Revenge Porn is when a person willingly publishes, circulate, distributes or prints any obscene or sexually explicit material without the consent of the person either to shame the victim or to lower his reputation. The motive behind is vengeance. In a study conducted by CCRI it was found that 90% of the revenge porn victims in their survey were women. The offender is booked under S.66E of the IT Act which states “whoever intentionally captures, publishes, distributes or transmits the image of a private area of a person without his/her consent under circumstances violating the privacy of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to 3 years or fine not exceeding 5 lakh rupees or both.” Meanwhile S.509 of IPC books the offender for “outraging the modesty of woman”. S.72 of the IT act says that for those who publish any obscene material of their partner without their consent or have accessed any electronic data or evidence of that person without their assent, discloses it shall be punished with imprisonment for 2 years or fine of up to 1 lakh or both. However, what seems to be a major hindrance to the efficiency of the abovementioned provisions of law is that S.77 of the IT act makes all pornography related offences bail-able.
In the case of State of West Bengal v Animesh Boxi, which is said to be the conviction of the first revenge porn case in India, the victim and the defendant were in a relationship during which the defendant got hold of some private photographs , later started blackmailing her with them and posted them online to take revenge for ending their relationship. The offender was charged under S.66E, 66C, 67 and 67A of IT Act and S.354A, 354C, 354 and 509 of IPC.
Cyber Bullying/ Cyber Blackmailing/ Cyber Stalking
The NCRB 2017 Report says that 16.19% of the total cyber crime cases reported came under these 3 categories. A survey conducted by FemisimIndia.com on 500 female online users shows that 58% of them had faced cyber bullying/harassment, including harassment via email which is punishable under S.67 of the IT act with “imprisonment which may extend up to 5 years”. Cyber bullying is when a person uses electronic means or the internet for transmitting, distributing, posting ‘any’ sensitive material concerning someone with an intention to harass/humiliate/shame that individual. There are no specific laws for it- S.509 prescribes punishment for outraging the modesty of a woman with “imprisonment of a term up to 1 year or fine or both”. S.66A of IT act, which used to deal with any material that would cause annoyance to any person, was stroked out by the Supreme Court in the Shreya Singhal V Union of India as it was said to curb the fundamental rights of speech and expression and was however loosely worded.
Cyber Blackmailing means stealthily gaining or tracking someone’s information without their knowledge and then circulating, distributing or publishing sensitive content, private images or videos, or obscene morphed photographs or threatening to do so with a motive behind it being either vengeance or illegal monetary demands. It is punishable under S.384 and S.385 of IPC which deal with extortion prescribing a punishment of “imprisonment up to 3 years or fine or both.”
Both cyber bullying and cyber blackmailing are dealt under S.506 of IPC- criminal intimidation with punishment of “imprisonment of a term up to 7 years or fine or both” and S.507- criminal intimidation by anonymous communication with punishment for “imprisonment in addition to the punishment prescribed under S.506”.
Cyber Stalking is when an individual or organisation uses cyber space to bother or harass someone, the motive behind it being obsession, vengeance, ego, sexual harassment, etc. It is seen as an encroachment of an individual’s privacy and is one of the highest reported cyber offences against girls and women. Cyber Stalking is punishable under S.354D of IPC, which defines and prescribes punishment of “imprisonment for up to 3 years and fine.”
In “Saddam Hussain V State of M.P”, the offender had sexually abused the woman and had recorded it. He later started blackmailing the victim with those videos. He was convicted under S. 354D and S. 507 IPC as well as S. 66A of the IT Act. The apex court refused the stop the proceedings after a compromise had been reached between the two parties and stated that a mere personal compromise would not deter the proceedings of the crime that has been committed against the public at large.
Defamation/ Morphing
Morphing is when an illegitimate user accesses a person’s photo, edits it and then re-uploads it in a different website under a fake profile mostly with a malicious intention to either deprave the reputation of the woman or humiliate and embarrass her. It is punishable under S.66 of IT act and S.43 of IT act which attracts damages or compensation for the victim. The offender can also be booked under S.292 of IPC for obscenity. The offender usually edits the photo of the victim by attaching a photo of a naked woman so as to defame her and deprave her character. For this, the offender can be punished under S.501 for defamation for a term up to 2 years or fine or both.
Cyber defamation is when someone circulates/publishes some defamatory statement or material about someone via internet or electronic means. The offender can be booked under S.499 and S.500 of IPC for up to 2 years of imprisonment and fine in case of defamation. Women are usually faced with sexual remarks or statements which are defamatory and hampers their reputation in both online and offline space. Certain provisions of the “Indecent Representation of Women Act” also deals with such matters.
The IPC and the IT act do not cover all the cyber offences against women. Many a times, women are not even aware of the laws that could protect their rights. Most of the cyber crimes cases go unreported. The law is not the solution to all the problems. There even lack separate provisions for various cyber crimes. The women themselves need to come out and report the crimes for the laws to helps. With the steep increase in the number of cyber crimes against women, there needs to be stricter laws against such crimes and proper implementation of the laws should be looked into.
References
1. Ann Clara Tomy, ‘Revamping Laws to combat gender based cyber violence against women and girls in India’ (2018) 8(1) IJBAR <http://www.pragatipublication.com/assets/uploads/doc/f0b06-1342-1348.13802.pdf > accessed on 4th April, 2020.
2. National Crime Records Bureau, Crime in India, Ch 14
3. Saddam Hussain v. State of M.P. [2016] SCC MP 1471
4. Shreya Singhal V Union of India AIR [2015] SC 1523
5. State of West Bengal v. Animesh Boxi, GR: 1587/17
6. The Information and Technology Act 2000
7. The Indian Penal Code 1860
