MUMBAI: The pandemic seems to have resulted in a surge in cyber harassment cases. Over 900 complaints were made to an anti-cyberbullying platform from 257 Indian cities last year.
A report by the platform, Cyber Bullying Action Awareness Prevention (CBAAP), says most complaints pertain to trolling, followed by sextortion.
“Not everyone is comfortable going to the police directly, particularly in cyberbullying cases. Instead, they look for help and not finding any could push them into depression. We founded the CBAAP platform to reach out to such individuals, offer counselling and assist them in lodging an FIR, if needed,” said psychologist Nirali Bhatia, its co-founder.
Among the top three cities that cyberbullying complaints were received by CBAAP were New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. College and school students formed a huge chunk (60%) of complainants. “Kids and young adults are very sensitive to opinions people have of them... This makes them vulnerable to cyberbullying,” said psychiatrist Dr Payal Sharma Kamath.
Some complainants who approached CBAAP were suicidal. “It’s not easy to get an FIR lodged in emotional harassment case,” Bhatia said, adding that she often has to counsel families of complainants too since their support is very vital.
“There have been instances, particularly of revenge pornography or image abuse, where I have to make the families understand how a victim has been targeted,” she said.
“Fear of parents’ inability to understand or the feeling that parents will make the situation worse are major concerns we see among young victims of cyberbullying,” added Dr Sharma Kamath.
CBAAP got more complaints from men (54%) than women in 2021. Most were from Uttar Pradesh, next Maharashtra. Bhatia cited a case where a newly married man was cyber-harassed via a fake profile.
“His wife and sister’s photos were morphed over obscene content and circulated to his relatives through the fake ID. The display picture was of the man and his ex-girlfriend to convince his relatives he had created the obscene content, although he was the victim,” said Bhatia.
