#DigitalHifazat—A Campaign To Combat Cyber Violence Against Women In India

#DigitalHifazat

What is Cyber Violence Against Women?

In India, as elsewhere all over the world, the online harassment of women and marginalised communities is rampant, in contrast to the Internet’s initial premise of equal opportunity and neutrality. What we have today is a flawed internet that reflects the offline world we live in, where women and marginalised communities are abused, harassed, threatened, stalked and violated on a daily basis. This campaign aims to analyse the unique threats that women and marginalised sections in India face online and how Indian laws affect these problems.

What does our research say?

FII in collaboration with Freedom House conducted a research – analysis of media reports involving online harassment of high profile women, a survey of 500 women and marginalised genders and interviews with ten of the respondents (Download the entire report here). We found out:

The survey was crafted using responses from 500 women and in-depth interviews with many of them

What does the cyber law in India say?

Criminal Amendment Act, 2013

1. Section 354A: demanding sexual favours/showing pornography against will.
2. Section 354C: voyeurism and disseminating such information without consent.
3. Section 354D: cyberstalking, despite clear indication of disinterest, or monitoring cyber activity.

Information Technology Act, 2008

1. Section 66C: identity theft
2. Section 66E: violation of privacy
3. Section 67: publication and transmission of obscene content
4. Section 67A: publication and transmission of sexually explicit material.
5. Section 67B: publication and transmission of child pornography
6. Section 72: breach of privacy and publication of material without consent.

Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Bill, 2012

The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2012 seeks to broaden the scope of the law to cover the audio-visual media and content in electronic form, prescribing stringent penalties which would act as deterrent to violation of the law.

As per the proposed amendments, distribution of material will also include distribution on the internet.