A few days ago, a 20-year-old man was arrested for abetting a 17-year-old girl’s suicide in Annur, Tamil Nadu. According to the police, he took non-consensual videos of the girl while she was bathing, and then threatened her with the videos to get into a relationship with him. The teen took took her life on September 10.
Several such incidents have been reported in the past where girls and women have ended up taking extreme measures because of someone threatening to leak their explicit videos or photos online or with their family members. “This is extortion where women and girls feel so threatened, guilty and ashamed that they cannot even go to the police or non-governmental organisations in many cases,” points out Dr Debarati, a professor of legal studies at Karnavati University. She is also the founder of the Centre for Cyber Counselling.
“When the victim gets ‘sextortion’ threats, the fear is that the perpetrator will immediately release the videos. However, in many cases, the perpetrator is simply using it as power play because they know that if they upload the photos or videos online, they may get flagged or reported,” she adds.
That being said, Dr Debarati suggests some things that women can do if they are faced with such a situation.
Dr Debarati says voyeurism is recognised under section 354C of the Indian Penal Code and can be used by women in such cases. This section not only defines voyeurism as the act of a man watching or capturing the image of a woman in a private act or circumstance where she would usually not have the expectation of being observed, it also notes that a victim may consent to the capturing of such an image but does not allow one to disseminate it to anyone without her consent.
“Depending on the type of message she has received, section 503 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended at insulting the modesty of a woman) can also be invoked. Provisions for breaching the privacy of an individual under section 66E of the Information Technology Act can also be used, and is applicable to men and women both,” she adds.
However, Dr Debarati recognises that it is rarely easy for women to go to the police and file a complaint for such an issue, and not in the least because police officials can also be unhelpful and judgmental.
P Suganthi, Tamil Nadu General Secretary of All Indian Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), gives the example of a 21-year-old Salem-based Chemistry graduate who took her life after a morphed photo of hers was uploaded on Facebook. The incident happened in 2016. She first informed her family and the Cyber Crime cell. However, the investigation was lax and delayed, and days later, another such photo of hers was leaked online. The young woman took her life, and her suicide letter also said that her parents too blamed her for what had happened.
“The police also refused to file a complaint immediately and that led to the loss of her life,” Suganthi says. And this lack of action from law enforcement is also why women hesitate to report such incidents.
In another incident, a self-proclaimed ‘political analyst’ Kishore K Swamy posted obscene messages about women in the media. Many people, including multiple women journalists, Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum and some men, complained to the police against the harassment after which he was arrested in July 2019. However, Kishore was released on bail the same afternoon. “The accused comes out easily, especially if he has political influence and/or money power. This makes women lose trust in the system. This is affecting women from rural backgrounds in unimaginable ways,” Suganthi says.
“The police often forget that in an era of spy cams and social media, a person’s consent is really all that should matter when it comes to whether her photos or videos were shared online. Investigative procedure is longer too… and in such cases, if the police is not properly trained or does not know how to handle the evidence, the case is not built strongly,” Dr Debarati adds.
Dr Debarati says that women can also approach the State or National Commissions for Women directly online as well, as these bodies have become proactive in dealing with such cases.
Thiruvai Silambu, an advocate, adds that once a complaint is registered with the police, the affected women should keep a copy and can even approach the local courts directly. “The women can get an FIR direction in the court. If not, the women can also send the FIR copies to the National and State Women’s Commissions, and using the acknowledgement, they can approach the court.”
One of the biggest factors that cause fear and shame in such cases is apprehension about family and friends’ reactions. This is what drives many victims to delete their social media accounts entirely when they receive such threats, observes Dr Debarati. “However, by blinding themselves to it, they cannot stop its impact. In fact, by doing so, women can sometimes cut off access to help and online reporting mechanisms too,” she points out.
Most of the women seeking help from AIDWA too are scared to register a complaint for similar reasons. Suganthi says that family support at such times is extremely important.
“Women are reporting and seeking help only when the issue becomes bigger. They are scared because of the society that is looking at the woman as an accused while letting the man roam free. In the Salem case, a man morphed her Facebook profile picture into obscene images and started circulating it, but the family did not get as angry with the man as much as they did with her," she says.
Dr Debarati says that families must first and foremost believe, and unconditionally support the woman in the action that she wants to take. “Many families start focusing on ‘reforming’ her, but instead, they should help her deal with the trauma of something like this happening to her. This becomes even more important if the victim is a minor," she says.