Members of the LGBTIQ+ community held a protest in front of the Secretariat on Wednesday demanding that cyberbullying of community members, women, and the differently abled be ended.
The protesters said the LGBTIQ+ community members, women, and the differently abled were increasingly coming under attack from cyberbullies who spared no opportunity to unleash attacks on people, especially gender and sexual minorities, whose lives and views did not conform to theirs.
To deny rights
The aim of such online attacks was to take away the protections offered to these segments by the Constitution and deny them the right to democratically organise, express themselves, and live the way they wanted. Cyberbullies deliberately harassed, threatened, ridiculed and insulted people by invading personal and familial spaces and posting comments, posts, and so on. This resulted in the targets becoming upset, moody, depressed, anxious, and even resorting to extreme measures. There was a need to regulate online and other activities of such cyberbullies whose unscientific and inhuman claims destroyed tolerance, progressive- and minority- friendly attitudes, gender equality, democracy, and peace in society.
Online abuse
A participant in the protest said she was constantly subjected to vile abuse online for speaking out against patriarchal and narrow beliefs.
The protesters called for framing laws that made cyberattacks on LGBTIQ+ community, differently abled, and women a punishable offence and implementing gender-sexual minority protection in various sectors. Organisations floated by cyberbullies should be declared illegal, and their claims refuted with facts. Strict action should be taken on cyber abuse cases registered in police stations and against people who used fake claims to influence others to attack the LGBTIQ+ community members, the protesters said.
