The Telangana government in consultation with NALSAR (National Academy of Legal Studies and Research) University, is working to bring out legislation to curb cyber harassment and bullying among other crimes, TRS MLC K Kavitha said on Monday, May 16. Speaking at an interactive session, the TRS leader said, “Currently, the Telangana government is working with NALSAR University to come up with a law which addresses particularly cyber-harassment and issues that women face. It takes care of other things like crimes, frauds, etc. But harassment is the major issue," she said when asked about the state government's initiatives on cyber crimes against women.
Kavitha, who is also Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's daughter, said a separate cyber law would ensure quicker action by law enforcement authorities and subsequent trial of the cases. "With the changing times and technologies, Telangana is promoting IT and IT-related services... Though there are a lot of opportunities, they come with challenges and one of the challenges is cyber harassment, cybersecurity issues," she further said.
Kavitha said the country needs more women politicians and leaders to understand and address gender-related issues. She added that most of the developmental and welfare programmes of the state government would always prefer female beneficiaries to men, as the dispensation believes in women empowerment.
She opined that internet penetration among women in the country needs to go up from the existing 35% to digitally empower them. She said she has a vision to see that women who roll 'beedis' in rural Telangana should be able to operate laptops eventually through digital empowerment programmes of the state government. According to her, Telangana, especially Hyderabad city, accepts and encourages womenfolk to go out for employment and also work from home.