’s win in 2014 and 2019, the online machinery of the Hindu-right swung into action soon, just like the Hindu-right at large. His victory was interpreted by the Hindu-right, including extreme groups like 

, as a mandate to impose their will on the population at large, whether to undertake vigilante action against supposed cow slaughter, extort people in the name of protecting their religion, target minorities, or generally assert an ugly form of majoritarian 

, is used by the right in specific ways, even combinations of these media forms are also deployed in concert with each other. Twitter is primarily used for tactical purposes. It is used both as offence and defence, to divert attention from any issue happening in the state or occurrence of any event that may look down upon the Modi government, to shut down any criticism by the opposition, well-known, or otherwise, and to intimidate or harass the critics of the government. Just like it happened in the case of 

 and other political prisoners. What we saw in Umar’s case was a strategically laid out plan to put him behind bars because the voice of dissent frightens the fascists. The reason why Umar and activists like him are behind the bars and not miscreants like 

– even though his threats and videos are also out on the internet, is because the voice of dissent threatens the institutionalised violence, it frightens not just the party but the authoritarian 

 ideology that the government propagates. Criticism of the government and its policies is met with hatred, communal violence, and false charges. These were the times when protests were spontaneous, not fuelled by political parties but mass consciousness against the communal propaganda and policies of the 

 government because everyone understood how bogus the policies were. Right-wing groups, again misusing social media as a tool to propagate their idea of “

, tweeted a doctored video of Umar Khalid’s speech from 

 to file a case against Umar. The nature of “evidence” is an innuendo, a doctored video, and communal ideologies. There was no investigation in the case, but a conspiracy to put innocent voices behind the bars under the garb of investigation, Delhi Police, after all, works directly under the central government.

It is in the backstory to 2014, that the internet plays an important part, including but not limited to social media. The birth of this right-wing 

 ecosystem took place in 2014 mainly, after the BJP government was elected into power, the elected authoritarianism not only survived the hard criticism but thrived in it due to its communal polarising of the public, pitting the interests of nationalistic Hindus against an imaginary, anti-national coalition of minorities, pseudo-secularists, and the like. Why Umar Khalid is in jail we ask, the answer to that is as simple as we think it is, although elected authoritarianism, the ideology to do so was set out years ago by the 

 – to propagate communalism and seep into the minds of the masses which derives out of 

. This is what it looks like when democracy turns into authoritarianism via communalism, dissenting voices are demonized and a false sense of pride is fed to the people about their nation. Any criticism of Modi, the symbol of young men and women from dusty small towns with their dreams of making it big, is seen by his admirers as a criticism aimed at themselves, of their desires and hopes and their claims upon the nation. Seemingly paradoxical for a nationalist government, the Modi regime and its supporters are highly touchy about coverage and comments of the foreign media and protests. But maybe it’s not paradoxical at all, for nationalism as pathology is marked by deep insecurity. It needs both ‘

’ and adversaries, and at the same time craves affirmation from these very others. There is also acute sensitivity to satire directed at Modi, across all social media platforms. The satirical parody Facebook page, ‘

’ for instance, was forced to temporarily shut down after its founder’s identity was revealed and he started receiving death threats. The extreme reaction of satire on the part of both the Modi government and the Hindu-right, I think, has to do with Modi’s own egotistical and thin-skinned personality, as indicated by his obsession with being in the limelight, his craving for affirmation from celebrities, and his authoritarian style of functioning. It’s not hard to figure out that he is seen as a symbol of patriarchal Hinduism and his image is very closely tied to the sense of masculinity of his male followers. Add that to the cult of personality that surrounds him and the image he has cultivated over the years. Therefore, it is not accidental as both Indian and foreign commentators have noted with puzzlement and often dismay, that many of these Hindu right-wingers with extreme misogyny and records of tweeting threats against women or advocating violence, in general, are followed on Twitter by the prime minister. The rather unconvincing defence of Modi’s peculiar taste in Twitter profiles provided by the BJP IT cell is that the prime minister follows people with various ideologies but does not promote them in any way. Yet, his own acerbic rhetoric as his term progressed, as well as the outright sentiments expressed by BJP leaders such as 

 in every election, suggests that Modi’s decision to follow Hindu right-wingers is an act of indirect signalling of his political inclinations to his biases and the nation at large.

In the Indian context, WhatsApp offers political parties tremendous advantages and the political value of being able to get one’s message across to diverse societal groups. More alarmingly, WhatsApp also offers a combination of two features – 

, that makes it ripe for misuse in societies fraught with social tensions, or in moments of crisis when tensions between different communities are high. People do not hesitate to express their bigoted and biased thoughts on WhatsApp groups of family members, friends, co-religionists, and so on. Not to mention that, for a variety of reasons, they would never express these thoughts in other settings at a personal level. Given the diversity of human thought, it is natural that these groups will have some internal disagreements. What seems to happen then is that some members either leave or become lurkers, who may read messages but do not respond. This has the effect of exacerbating polarization, a feature of the internet at large, as noted by 

). It is, no doubt theoretically possible that social media platforms, whether Twitter or WhatsApp, could be used for such a purpose and the main problem in our society is that it’s very likely that the government itself is responsible for spreading some of those messages.

The point here is not to demonise social media or to blame it as the sole cause of polarization and violence between communities. For that too is a form of technological determinism that rests on the mystification of the power of media forms. It is sobering to remember that other media forms have also been used to dehumanise the ‘other’ and then enabling violence against them, whether through descriptions of 

 as traitors and cockroaches, or rumours about 

 that circulated through speech networks in 

 in 1984 in the leadup to the planned genocidal violence against the community.

In conclusion, it remains to be seen whether developments within the world of Hindu nationalism and how Hindu nationalists use social media tools will compel the Big Tech platforms to rethink the features of their products or whether changes made independently to their platforms by Big Tech will compel and constrain Hindu nationalism to develop, mutate, and adapt unexpectedly and unpredictably. I will refrain from prognostication, choosing to wait and watch what the possible trajectories of social media development may tell us about the future of Hindu nationalism, in cyberspace and on the streets.

Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Jamia Review or its members.

The Weaponization of Social Media against Dissent

Born on 14th April, 1891, in the military cantonment of Mhow, now known as Ambedkar Nagar, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was a jurist and a politician, who raised his voice for the people of India when they needed it the most. As India transitioned from British rule to the Indian rule, the latter was expected to be no less exploitative. Indian society being heavily graded into castes and sub-castes, a system which has and continues to plague the social and political revolutions within the nation, kept a large mass away from any decision-making process. The little of what democracy we have today wouldn’t have been there if not the efforts made by leaders like Ambedkar. Bhimrao was a distinguished scholar, having Bachelors in Arts from University of Mumbai to Doctors of Law from Columbia University, his academic qualifications were unmatched. He was also the first Indian to receive a Doctorate in Economics from abroad.

Ambedkar was appointed as the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. Although hailed much for the Constitution and his legal expertise by all the sides, the major contributions of Ambedkar weren’t limited to it. He uplifted a section of society, not only by becoming their voice but also left them behind a platform to be able to raise theirs. He managed to introduce several legal reforms, from the ‘Hindu Code Bill’ to minority reservations as we know them today. Reforms that, though ill-implemented, continue to give the marginalized, an opportunity to participate in the democratic process and work towards emancipation from exploitation. He wrote extensively on Caste and amalgamated his thoughts in 

 that still serves as a beginner’s guide to the caste system in the Indian Society and a framework towards abolition of the same. Later in his life, he decided to adopt Buddhism, banishing Hinduism for its hard structured caste system and years of systematic violence on the marginalised masses. At Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur, he along with thousands of Bahujans, publicly converted to Buddhism, shaking the foundations of rigid Hindu society.

As a visionary, Ambedkar warned the people of what he saw coming as a destruction of basic ideals of democracy in India. In one of his last speeches delivered in the Constituent Assembly, on November 25, 1949, Babasaheb uttered three warnings pertaining to the future of our Constitution and Democracy. The third one, related to the “Hero Worship” needs to be recalled today more than ever. Quoting J.S. Mill who cautioned every person who believed in democratic ideals to “

not to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions

“, he emphasised the dangers of hero worshipping of political leaders, especially in the case of India. The evil of hero worship has emerged as one of the most ruinous elements in the history of Indian politics. But the bhakti of a political leader when intermixed with bhakti of a religion can result in far worse consequences. The ability of the masses to reason is systematically blurred, and as they fail to question the leader and his intentions, he becomes immune to all criticisms. While those who take a step forward in clearing these clouds are painted as traitors through vicious state propaganda and are silenced using coercion and state machinery. This leads to the destruction of the very idea of Democracy which eventually leads to become a form of Dictatorship, at times an undeclared one.

Ambedkar continues to serve as a source of inspiration for socio-political movements in India despite years of tarnishing and appropriation by different organisations. The path he showed during his life now depends heavily on the youth of the nation. Responsibility also lies upon the Bahujan organisations to chart out according to his teachings, a way to mobilise and strengthen the Bahujan community to fight as one. What is important to see is how his ideals must go hand in hand with other political thoughts, and how the masses of the country, majorly comprising Dalits, will bring what Ambedkar preached as a social revolution prior to the political revolution.

REMEMBERING AMBEDKAR

The red flag has become a worldwide symbol of social change. For some, it is a symbol of blood and for some it represents sacrifice. According to others, it symbolises a revolution. Despite these aspects being true, they do not fully explain exactly why the colour of the flag is red.

It is an interesting fact of history that before the 

, the feudal ruling classes were already using flags of red colour. Red is an indicator of danger, and therefore, to announce the government’s order and declarations red flags were put up across the roads. When the great French revolution took place, power passed into the hands of the people and the bourgeoise. People openly began to use the red flag as their own. It became ‘

, capitalism was spreading rapidly in the developed countries of west and central 

. Political consciousness spread with the increasing number of workers, leading to the formation of trade unions. An 

. A large number of workers, weavers, tailors, etc. participated in it. During the uprising, barricades came up in the narrow roads, lanes and armed workers clashed with the armed forces. On one such occasion, a red flag was hoisted over the barricade by workers. Thus it became the 

See Marx-Engels, selected works, volume 1, note no. 104, in English, Marx’s article on ‘The Class Struggle in France’

 began. The workers and intelligentsia jointly formed an organisation named ‘

, and demanded the removal of the restriction on unions. Thus, in 

 by the 1830s, the red flag was already symbolizing the working class.

, workers, the mass of the people organised a general insurrection and captured power. The government fled from 

. It is worth noting that the Red flag was hoisted on the 

Government Headquarters i.e. Hotel de Ville

. Thus, the red flag became a symbol not only of the workers’ movement but also of its power. Besides, the commune was the product of the 

 as well as the theories of Marx and Engels, according to them it was the first example of the worker’s rule.

The use of red banners and flags had already become quite common in the 

, from where the celebration of labour day started long before May Day. In the second half of the 19th century, the American worker’s movement began to raise the demand for an eight-hour workday. The slogan was: 8 hours of work, 8 for rest, and 8 hours for recreation. Labour unions decided to celebrate 

 in support of the demand for 8 hours working day. In 1886, 1st May, the labour unions of the 

 decided to go on a country-wide strike. The preparations had begun in 1884 itself. There were widespread demonstrations against police brutality all over America as well as in European countries because of the deliberate act of provocation by the strike-breakers who supported the police and attacked the workers, where police resorted to open firing and many workers died. The administration filed false cases on 8 workers, held them guilty for the violence and awarded them death sentences. It was after many years that the administration admitted that the charged were false. This is how May Day became a regular international event. 

The red flag became a world-wide symbol of the working class.

, a workers’ political organisation named 

. It educated the future leaders and theoreticians, 

 being the most prominent of them. Russia suffered both from the development of capitalism as well as from its insufficient development. During the 

. The democratic revolution would not be carried out by the working class alone but on a united front with help from cooperating classes and sections, particularly the peasants. It was only during the revolution of 1905 that the 

mark of hammer and sickle was imprinted on the Red flag

, which was the symbol of unity of workers and peasants. The Russian Revolution took place on the 

, led by the soviets. The revolution adopted the Red flag as the 

. On this flag, a five cornered red star was put above the symbol of hammer and sickle. The meaning of this star was that the message of the Russian revolution is being communicated to all the five continents and all the corners of the world. The Russian revolution generated a lot of enthusiasm all over the world. The 

struggle for socialism, communism, revolution, freedom and basic changes in society.

 being the first president. According to reports, MayDay was celebrated in the Industrial town of 

. The meetings were attended by a large number of workers. It was for the first time that the red flags were hoisted. 

 and others addressed the workers. Later 

. It was he who presides over the foundation conference of CPI wherein the red flag with a hammer and sickle on it was adopted.

Today, the Red Flag has become a symbol of the trade union, working-class movement, radical revolutionary, leftist and communist ideology. It represents People. It represents a fundamental change in society and socialism and communism.

LONG LIVE THE WORKERS MOVEMENT! LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!

RED: COLOUR OF THE WORKING CLASS

The high rates of sexual violence are not reflected in the data for state and federal sexual assault prosecutions, the reasons for this are many and varied. Many sexual assaults are never reported. Of those, only a small percentage of sexual violence cases are ever charged. Still fewer are ever prosecuted to conviction. Even when a prosecution is successful, the criminal justice system may be limited in its ability to promote recovery, restitution, and restoration for survivors. Regardless of whether a criminal prosecution is pursued, a sexual violence survivor may have many outstanding legal needs that a criminal court cannot adequately address. Thus, a sexual violence survivor may turn to the civil justice system for the legal relief she seeks. The search for justice in the civil courts may commence immediately following a sexual assault, many decades later, or anytime in between. Some needs may be immediately apparent, while others will emerge only over time. As sexual crimes cannot be eliminated overnight, policies for victim care and rehabilitation should be the priority.

 rightly emphasized the need to establish a more effective response care system for rape and sexual assaults, and the 

 to act upon these recommendations. Unfortunately, the Indian Home Ministry has abysmally failed to implement most of the Verma recommendations. 

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2013

, passed by GOI on 23 February 2013, was criticized by the public and women’s groups for bypassing vital recommendations regarding ‘reforms in Constitution, governance, policing and education’ and for not recognizing rehabilitation of rape survivors as a state responsibility. Subsequently, an 

 tabled in the parliament sought detailed discussions on Verma Recommendations. Although the important bill 

 managed approval, the patriarchal parliamentary debate ignored rape victims care and focused on defining rape and punishing sex crimes.

India needs to constitute and mobilize task forces and crisis centres to support medical examination of victims, provide legal counsel during trials and thereby improve reporting of sexual offences which might increase conviction of perpetrators. The recent amendments regarding the same are as following:

THE CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) ACT OF 1983:

 The infamous Mathura case called for significant amendments in the Cr.P.C in 1983, particularly regarding what constituted custodial rape, provision for enhanced punishments for offences under section 376 IPC and presumption of the absence of consent in cases booked under section 376 IPC. This was done by bringing in an amendment in the Indian Evidence Act, section 114(A) IEA. Thus, in cases of custodial rape, rape of a pregnant woman, and gang rape, if it is proved that the accused had sexual intercourse with the woman who is alleged to have been raped, the question of consent arises and if the woman state she did not consent, the court shall presume that she did not consent.

THE INDIAN EVIDENCE AMENDMENT ACT OF 2002:

 Section 155 IEA earlier allowed the defence lawyer to discredit the victim’s testimony by arguing that she was of “immoral character”. This attack on her in the name of a legally allowed cross examination, questioning her past sexual acts, her personal life and other private matters, deterred many victims of rape from registering complaints. The Indian Evidence (Amendment) Act of 2002, which came into force on January 1, 2003, deleted section 155 IEA and added a provision, section 146 IEA. According to the new provision, it is not be permissible to put questions about her general moral character. This paved the way for an end to unwarranted attacks on the past sexual acts of the victim of rape.

CODE OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AMENDMENT ACT 2005:

 The Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act of 2005 introduced specific sections for medical examination of victims of rape (section 164(A) CrPC), medical examination of those accused of rape (section 53 (A) CrPC) and investigation by judicial magistrates of custodial rape and deaths (section 176(1A)(a)(b)CrPC).

CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL CODE AMENDMENT OF 2008

: The amendment to section 309 CrPC has the additional proviso that when the inquiry or trial relates to an offence under sections 376 to 376D IPC, the inquiry or trial shall, as far as possible, be completed within a period of two months from the date of commencement of the examination of witnesses. The amendment of the CrPC in 2008 has brought in progressive legislation by inserting a new section 357(A) CrPC, the victim compensation scheme. All state governments in consultation with the central government are to prepare a scheme for victim compensation.

When a sexual assault victim or an accused is brought to a doctor or hospital, only evidence is collected. It is not realised by the majority of doctors and hospitals that the treatment of hidden injuries, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, advice on pregnancy and contraception, and psychological assessment and counselling are part of their medical role apart from evidence collection. Perhaps we require an explicit law in this regard. The recent amendments in the CrPC to help speed up trials in sexual assault cases may not have an impact due to the existing backlog of cases in our courts. Though the union law minister has issued a public statement about the government’s commitment to establish separate courts to examine sexual assault/harassment cases, the time has come to ask when such separate courts will actually start functioning. The lack of a witness protection law in India makes rape survivors and witnesses vulnerable to pressure that undermines prosecutions. For instance, 

, unofficial village caste councils, often pressure Dalit and other so-called “low-caste” families not to pursue a criminal case or to change their testimony if the accused is from the dominant caste. There are instances where we still see the patriarchal lean of the laws and the dichotomy that lies within the system itself which needs to be tackled through a feminist approach.

Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies.

A STEP TOWARDS JUSTICE FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS

One of the potential reasons for bisexuals not coming ‘out’ or merging their identity with gays and lesbians was the lack of a clear definition. For an example, although we know that cancer comes in myriad of forms varying in its trajectories but still we have a basic qualifying definition of what cancer is. Just as there would be consequences of not being able to identify who has and who doesn’t have cancer there are real consequences of not being recognized. The lack of visibility of bisexuality in society has consequences in the form of erasure and misinformed stereotypes such as beliefs that bisexuals are “confused, dishonest or just a phase of transitioning into a homosexual” and a result of these negative stereotypes, the mental health of the majority of bisexuals is affected adversely.

Bisexuals have always been an invisible group in the heterosexual-homosexual dichotomy. One of the ways to negate these societal definitions of bisexuality is to allow individuals to self-define their sexual identity. Self-identity empowers individuals to choose the sexual label that they believe either best fits to who they are or at least how they want to be identified publicaly. For example, someone who openly identifies as a bisexual will have different outcomes on these constructs than someone who does not self-identify as a bisexual, even if the latter person engages in bisexual behaviour. In other words, people who do not identify as bisexual will not experience the same social and relational stigmas or the same mental health consequences as those who openly identify as one. Although some bisexuals feel that self-imposed labels are inadequate to wholly explain their sexuality but when we allow the individual to self-identify themselves, we assume that they are self-aware, open and objective in their definition. While a standardized definition of bisexuality is beneficial in the way that it provides scientific validity, it also begs the question of why someone’s sexuality needs the buy-in of science to be acceptable or
defended.

An additional issue which complicates the process of defining bisexuality is the question of whether bisexuality is even a true sexual orientation or is it simply a transitional phase due to the perception that female sexuality is more fluid than that of the male sexuality.Thus it is often thought of to be a phase that a woman will outgrow (which in itself ignore bi-males). Now you see how many complications are there in mere defining of bisexuality? Fluidity, as it is commonly conceptualized, is either the ability to bend one’s sexual orientation, in specific, or compelling situations, or a change in one’s sexual identity all together. These are two very different things. In the first stance we are talking about something in the environment triggering a latent sexual attraction; in the latter, we are talking about a shift from one orientation to another.

Fluidity seems to argue that sexual orientation is a choice versus just believing that bisexuality is more varied than static measures can determine. For example, relationship status makes a bisexual look, at times, heterosexual, gay or lesbian. However, when their relationship status changes, we would recognize that their sexual orientation did not change, it had just always included the possibility of either same-sex or cross-sex partnerings. Finally, it is plausible that bisexual individuals initially adopt other orientations because they have not had the opportunity to ‘live’ their bisexuality. In a monogamy driven culture, a bisexual individual may not have the opportunity to experience a relationship with the non-initially chosen partner until they are older.Finally, the word ‘bi’ would seem to imply a split desire for people of either sex and it is worth noting that the word ‘bi’ would exclude ‘multi’ sex/gender sexuality). In short, it implies that who a bisexual individual would engage with sexually or emotionally is a coin flip; there is no preference leaning one way or another.

Given the extreme complexity of bisexuality, it is tempting to say that no one definition will satisfy all people and therefore, forego the attempt to provide one. But I still believe that without an attempt to define it, bisexuality will go on to be “unthought, made invisible, trivial, insubstantial, irrelevant and shall keep falling to the societal norms”. Therefore, what a basic definition of bisexuality according to me is: a collective term for a sexual orientation that encompasses a variation of relational possibilities including, sexual behaviours and/or feelings toward, emotional attachment to, and/or desires or fantasies for, both men and women. These attractions do not have to be acted on or have to be equal in either their magnitude or ratio of men and women.

UNDERSTANDING THE B IN LGBTQ+

 lags far behind in providing its journalists with an independent space to work fearlessly. In the recently released 

position. Journalists are bound to their media houses, who bow down to these political parties or power-holders. 

 is not just a body of journalists but it is supposed to uphold the freedom of the press.

What we see now is qualitatively different then the days of truthful, courageous, moralistic and a propaganda free media. There is much more behind the scenes and news management corporations which has not only fallen in the lines but also set boundaries for themselves. This situation has been long in the making. It is as if they have internalized the government’s thinking, preferring to play it safe rather than risk anyone’s wrath post-facto.

When we talk about free journalism the very first thing, we think of is individual journalists who are unbiased and trustworthy, but how long does an individual stand against power and all the forces? If we start to jot down the list of journalists who lost their lives just because they were not a part of 

 since independence, we would run out of pages and tears. 

 were famous and renowned personalities whose killings drew attention but there are many who lose their lives for us and yet, their voices remain unheard.

The government goes unchallenged – criticism on social media is couched in grand philosophical terms, abstractions or bromides, or at best, phony equivalence where the opposition party is dragged and said to be polluting the minds of the youth as if we didn’t already have a conscience. The opposition may well say that there is no need to be continuously antagonistic towards the government and that is a legitimate argument. But when journalists start falling behind every government decision taken in the name of 

’ or invoke patriotism as a defense, then it is a clear abdication of professional ethics. Soon, journalists start speaking a language that pleases only the dominant structures.

Journalism was about speaking truth to power which no longer prevails. The degradation of professional values in the Indian media is not a sudden development – it has been happening over many years and without any effective fightback, but media just becomes a part of the propagandist system. They no longer see their roles as giving voice to the voiceless or demanding accountability from the ruling classes. How can they question the system when they are the system?

THE CURRENT SCENARIO OF INDIAN JOURNALISM

Since, the beginning of civilization humans have improvised their living standards and to be more specific improvised technology in order to secure a developed future. This has led to major advances with the ‘internet’ being the most tremendous advancement in the history of humankind. Internet places the power to access any kind of information in the hands of anyone having a simple computerized/telephonic connection. In this sense, Internet is anarchic but at the same time it is governed by certain governmental systems and laws, thus contradicting its own-self. The internet has been a revolutionary advancement but with its own cons. The misuse of internet is why the laws need to govern it, the forgery committed through it is why the anarchic development needs to be taken care of and the acts, which disrupt the peaceful life of others need to be penalised. These laws are known as cyber laws.

One of the gravest and the most popular crime in the cyber world that we know of is ‘voyeurism’. The meaning of voyeur is “

a person who gains pleasure by secretly observing other’s sexual acts

” 1. With the advancement in video making and picture capturing technologies, the act of voyeur has become much easier and common. Voyeurism is an act that blatantly defies all the reasonable expectations of privacy in an individual’s life. It is a criminal offence to both the privacy and the dignity of an individual. It controls the autonomy of a person to expose or not to expose their body or any kind of sexual act they do without their consent or knowledge, either through unwarranted observation of the individual, or through distribution of images or videos against the wishes or without the knowledge of the victim2. With this also comes the concept of revenge porn, which refers to sharing private/sexual images of a person in order to defame and humiliate the person. The only difference is that the sexual/intimate pictures might be procured by voyeurism or through consent.

Video voyeurism is one of the most rampant crimes that confront us today. Security and assurance of privacy is one of the most sensitive issues in the gamut of cyber world. As the internet rapidly becomes a part and parcel of our life, it becomes clear that violation of privacy is not limited as a threat to the dot coms and individuals but the whole internet community at large. While the foreign countries are well versed with the concept and have a variety of statutes to regulate and control the same. 

dealing with the crime of voyeurism, introduced

Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008

, recognizes the right of privacy as inviolable and makes the violation of the same punitive with imprisonment or fine (not exceeding the amount of 2 lakhs) or both. The section recognized desire of privacy as a respectable one, particularly in our society recognising the cultural ethos and the values we espouse, it also deserves legal protection. The section 66E of the IT Act, 2008, implements the right to protect the human body from unreasonable and involuntary obscene intrusion and protects the individual’s privacy from crimes such as voyeurism, which destroys the dignity and privacy of an individual.

Furthermore, apart from the section 66E, there are some other legal provisions in the IT Amendment Act, 2008 ensuring the inviolable right to privacy, specified below:

 The section states whoever publishes or transmits obscene content into an electronic form. The section also mentions that if a camera captures any obscene electronic information, the owner of the camera can be booked under this particular section, but if the camera specifically captures any sexually explicit content, it will be classified as a non-bailable offence u/s 67A entailing imprisonment and a fine.

 The section provides non-bailable punitive measures for publishing or transmitting any sexually explicit content in electronic form. The ultimate reason to implement this section is to make Indian mobile and laptop users extremely careful whenever they click a picture or record a video of a sexually explicit act or conduct. Failure of which shall result in an imprisonment of 5 years and a fine of Rs. 10 lakhs.

 The section privatizes censorship in India. It also exempts the liability of the intermediator in some cases such as third party information of links to some information being provided to some other party except of course conspired by the intermediary itself.

The Information technology Amendment Act, 2008 has been an epoch making legislation providing the seriousness against cyber crimes in the country, aligned to which the government has had a two pronged approach: Enforcement measures under the laws and secondly the governmental approach i.e. rules and guidelines regarding cyber security. Some of the governmental approach regarding cyber security are mentioned below:

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT)

: According to section 2(iia) of the IT Act, 2000 “Indian Computer Emergency Response Team” means an agency established under sub-section (I) of Section 70-B.3

Attempt is an offence (S. 84-C) inclusion of this offence under the IT Act would be useful as while trying at the computer, like vandalising the data, hacking, in this condition, the accused can be punished for attempt to commit the crime in question.4

Critical Information Infrastructure (CII)

, Section 70(I) defines the term “Critical Information Infrastructure” means the computer resource, the incapacitation or destruction of which, shall have debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health or safety.

Protected System, Section 70(I) (Amended) defines the term “Protected System” has been enlarged to bring within its ambit the CII.

, Section 70-A, to ensure cyber security in the country there is provision for the establishment of National Nodal Agency.

Monitoring, interception and decryption of data- Section 69(Section 69 of IT Act, 2008 provides direction for interception or monitoring or decryption), 69-A (Provides blocking for public access, 2008) and 69-B (Provides monitoring and collecting traffic data, 2008), empowers the government to authorise any agency to take these steps as per the rules prescribed by the government. The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Monitoring and Collecting Traffic Data or Information) Rules, 2009.5

With the recent times of development in the IT Sector and recognition of cyber securities and personal space, for the first time in 2013, the 

354C vide Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013

, which states that sexual voyeurism is one of the type of sexual harassment. The section clearly states that who have been watched, or recorded, without their consent and under circumstances where the victim could reasonably expect privacy, and where the victim’s genitals, buttocks or breast have been exposed, the offender will be punished.6

The right to privacy, its violation through various forms one of which being voyeurism and safety of women are intricately linked in any legal system. If any legal system does not protect the privacy both of the body and the information of its people, there will always be insecurity in such a system. With the recent debates on women’s safety and personal choice, several crucial privacy and security issues have been raised, such as the criminalization of voyeurism and stalking. Hopefully, the demands for autonomy and protection of privacy will continue to be raised in the future.

By and large instances of voyeurism are occurring in India because of the inherent defects in the existing law of India. One of the biggest tragedies as far as the legislations in independent India is concerned, is that India does not have a dedicated system to protect the privacy of its citizens. It can be said that the system i.e. the state never wanted to provide complete privacy to its citizens in order to control and manipulate. However, the educated masses well aware of their rights demand protection of their rights, voice their opinions and revolutionize the existing system. Thus creating new rights and a new law to ensure their safety.

It is ironical that even after 70+ years of freedom, the individual fights for its own liberation and a personal space. It is high time we start educating ourselves and voice for change. Let the concept of justice prevail!

Prof. Walker MB. Chamber’s Dictionary of Science and Technology, Ed. 4, Allied Chambers, New Delhi India. 2001.

Inserted by S.36 of the IT (Amendment) Act, (10 of 2009). The central government shall make arrangements for the establishment of a central entity to serve as ICERT. This will be a specialized body primarily to take care of the protected system in the country, 2008.

Inserted by S. 45 of the IT (Amendment) Act. Attempt is defined under S. 511 of IPC as a punishable offence, 2008.

The Criminal Law Amendment Act, DL (N) 2003-13, Ministry of Law & Justice Legislative Department, 2013.

Articles by Pearl Sharma

The Weaponization of Social Media against Dissent

REMEMBERING AMBEDKAR

RED: COLOUR OF THE WORKING CLASS

A STEP TOWARDS JUSTICE FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS

UNDERSTANDING THE B IN LGBTQ+

THE CURRENT SCENARIO OF INDIAN JOURNALISM

VOYEURISM AND CYBER LAWS: A VISION BEYOND THE LENS

The Weaponization of Social Media against Dissent

REMEMBERING AMBEDKAR

RED: COLOUR OF THE WORKING CLASS

A STEP TOWARDS JUSTICE FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS

UNDERSTANDING THE B IN LGBTQ+

THE CURRENT SCENARIO OF INDIAN JOURNALISM

VOYEURISM AND CYBER LAWS: A VISION BEYOND THE LENS