What is Cyber bullying?
Cyber bullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behavior, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted. Examples include:
• spreading lies about or posting embarrassing photos or videos of someone on social media
• sending hurtful, abusive or threatening messages, images or videos via messaging platforms
• Impersonating someone and sending mean messages to others on their behalf or through fakeaccounts.
Face-to-face bullying and cyber bullying can often happen alongside each other. But cyber bullying leaves a digital footprint – a record that can prove useful and provide evidence to help stop the abuse With the prevalence of social media and digital forums, comments, photos, posts, and content shared by individuals can often be viewed by strangers as well as acquaintances. The content an individual shares online – both their personal content as well as any negative, mean, or hurtful content – creates a kind of permanent public record of their views, activities, and behavior. This public record can be thought of as an online reputation, which may be accessible to schools, employers, colleges, clubs, and others who may be researching an individual now or in the future. Cyber bullying can harm the online reputations of everyone involved—not just the person being bullied, but those doing the bullying or participating in it. Cyber bullying has unique concerns in that it can be:
Persistent – Digital devices offer an ability to immediately and continuously communicate 24 hours a day, so it can be difficult for children experiencing cyber bullying to find relief.
Permanent – Most information communicated electronically is permanent and public, if not reported and removed. A negative online reputation, including for those who bully, can impact college admissions, employment, and other areas of life.
Hard to Notice – Because teachers and parents may not overhear or see cyber bullying taking place, it is harder to recognize.
Ways to Report Cyberbullying:
1. Register a Complaint through FIA
Simply write down your application (in English or in Urdu), narrate your complete problem, provide as much evidences, details as you can and send it to FIA National Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NR3C).
2. Lodge a Report via IC3
The IC3 accepts online Internet crime complaints from either the actual victim or from a third party to the complainant. Check out their website to see how to report.
3. CPLC to the Rescue
The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) has set up a women complaint cell aimed at dealing with women harassment issues across the country. Complaints can be made on these numbers: 021-35662222, 021-35682222.
4. Section 19 – Offences against Modesty
Section 19 allows for recognition of the offences that are being committed against a person or minor on the internet as the circulation of any material which is intended to injure or harm the reputation of the other person or the circulation of any such material intending to blackmail the other person. This also includes sharing of explicit content. The punishment for such offences which are committed under S. 19 of PECA, 16 is 5-7 years of imprisonment or fine up to 5 million or both.
5. Section 21 – Cyber Stalking (Harassment)
Whereas, the ambit of Section 21 is of offences of harassment or cyber stalking. This includes spying, sending repetitive text messages, or circulation of a photo or video without the other person’s consent. The punishment for the offence under S.21 of PECA, 16 is 3-5 years of imprisonment, fine of 10 million or both. It has been reported though various articles and publications those online crimes against women and overall complaints of cyber stalking and harassment had increased drastically under the lockdown imposed during the recent pandemic.
