The new kind of violence against teenage girls, women, trans and queer persons, is digital in nature. Are we prepared to tackle it, asks a Mumbai-based NGO's latest publication
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If an alarm clock were set to ring every time the word 'troll' or 'social media' were used in daily conversation, it would get tired of ringing. Largely invisible in our daily discourse are those narratives that do not revolve around a smartphone — and if you didn't know already, three out of every four mobile phone users in India do not use smartphones.
Free to be Mobile, a publication released by Mumbai-based non-profit organisation Point of View (POV), brings to light many of these stories by presenting 10 accounts, of teenagers, women, trans and queer people on technology-enabled violence, ranging from incessant phone calls from unknown men to fathers tracking their daughter's phone bills. For instance, at a digital security workshop held in Madla, West Bengal, the women, aged between 18 and 24, were asked what they wanted to discuss.
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Trishna received threats from three to four Facebook accounts at the same time as from her ex-boyfriend and his friends. Illustration/Kritika Trehan
"Wrong numbers," they said. Zarah Udwadia of POV, who co-wrote the text, interviewed the 10 participants on the phone.
"Many girls, women, trans and queer people do not feel safe in the digital space. We do grassroots work with communities across the country. In our workshops, we noticed multiple stories emerging on digital violence that is not discussed. Everyone is using mobile phones or shared mobile phones...
Adapting the popular Snake game on mobile phones, Trehan has added an emoji of a girl's face
Although participants may not use the vocabulary of social media like 'trolling' or 'violence', there is an awareness," she tells us, adding that she wanted to put out stories as they were. Some accounts even highlight the problems that trans and queer people face on dating apps like Grindr and Tinder and how reporting seldom leads to a solution.
Each account features powerful illustrations by Kolkata-based designer Kritika Trehan. "The content is extremely serious in nature and so, I didn't want to trivialise the book at any point. The colour palette was chosen according to what you see on social media and when I read the accounts, I got a lot of visual cues. The recurring theme was the fact that it is like a game of bingo for men to dial numbers," Trehan says, emphasising how the book creates a conversation rather than provide solutions.
Bondita's complaint was transferred to the traffic department, after she approached the Guwahati CID
"There are differences in the degree of mobile violence outlined here. You'll read stories ranging from someone making a Facebook account and not telling her father about it to an entire office being harassed," she adds.
Apps can also take over your privacy
In most cases, legal recourse wasn't considered — because as history would show, justice is a sort of privilege. In one chapter, for example, an activist's complaint of an online case in Assam was transferred to the traffic department for investigation. And it all boils down to understanding how interconnected the virtual and the real world are. As Udwadia says, "...
Kritika Trehan
My biggest learning was that digital violence is not separate from physical violence. We don't take violence in the digital space seriously — the men mentioned in the accounts took it as a joke. It is important to remember that the consequences of digital violence can manifest themselves in physical form."
Psychological impact
. Any person undergoing tech-enabled violence lives in a constant state of fear. The fact that you may not always know the perpetrator, amps up the level of violence, especially if mechanisms are not in place.
Amrita Joshi
. Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) surface and you tend to get hyper-vigilant. In the short-term, physical symptoms like palpitations and trembling are also seen. One also loses trust in relationships.
. In most of my experiences, I've seen that there is not just one kind of abuse that you go through. Marginalisation takes place at various degrees — victim-blaming is one of them. You need to recognise that it isn't your fault. Do not deal with this alone and get as much support as possible.
Inputs by Amrita Joshi, clinical psychologist
Legal angle
. Technology-driven crimes can be tackled both through the conventional provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as special enactments such as the Indian Telegraph Act and the Information Technology Act. Under the IPC, any act which leads to violence or illegal intrusion would be an offence. Even assisting would invoke the penal provisions of abetment, criminal conspiracy, and common intention. There are more specific and analogous provisions in the Indian Telegraph Act where interference with telephonic communications is a criminal offence. Similarly, creation of an electronic record related to violence and obscenity is a cognisable offence, as is hacking.
Abha Singh
. Section 66-C of the IT Act, 2000, prescribes for imprisonment up to three years and a fine up to R1 lakh if one is found guilty of identity theft like dishonestly making use of an electronic signature, password or any other unique identification. Laws are there, but it's up to us to invoke them for justice.
. Section 67 of the IT Act provides for punishment up to five years in jail and a fine of up to R10 lakh to those found guilty of publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form.
Point of View does grassroots work with communities across the country
Inputs by Abha Singh, advocate, Bombay High Court
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