When the Protectors Lack the Potential: Cyber Violence against Women and the Consequences of Victims Who Dare to Raise Voice

When the Protectors Lack the Potential: Cyber Violence against Women and the Consequences of Victims Who Dare to Raise Voice

Violence against women is not a new issue to talk or write about. There have always been numerous seminars, discussions, lectures and camps taken along with umpteen columns and news articles on all kinds of media on various aspects of women’s protection and safety. As the virtual world created by the internet and apps based on internet spreads wide, the scope of violence also increases. If the old times had news about physical violence against women, these are the times of cyber harassments. Are we aware of this? Millions of women use Facebook and Whatsapp everyday and each one of them, their private information, pictures and so on, are under the risk of being misused by the cyber villains. Unfortunately such issues are not being taken seriously by the authorities, at least not yet. Maybe cyber violence don’t seem to be as wild as getting physical, but aren’t they?

‘Malayala Manorama’ has a testimony by a victim on the editorial page (2015 December 5, Saturday, pg 4) which gives us a clear picture of the situation. The column, titled as ‘Cyber Kerala to Women’, describes how women are being harassed online and how are they being treated when they dare to raise their voice to complain about it. The testimony describes how a woman’s mobile number was captured and misused with an app called ‘Who Has Me’ by a Whatsapp group in Kerala, using ‘True Caller’, another online app. Soon the owner of the number started receiving random calls and vulgar messages from numerous sources. The women approached cyber cell for help who traced the persons behind the scene and submitted the reports to the local police authority. They questioned the criminals who admitted their crime but no action was taken. And the case was suspended due to the removal of Section 66 A of The IT Act by the Supreme Court (which really has nothing to do with the case concerned). After approaching numerous other authorities who either refused to help the victim or diverted the case by delaying the procedures, causing the victim to run around endlessly for justice, the situation is just pathetic.

This is just one incident among hundreds of other stories of injustice. How is the state government supposed to serve their own people if the local government officials behave like this? Most often it is heard that this kind of violence continues to thrive because women never come forward to the concerned authorities and file complains, which could be true but why don’t they? The answer is they are afraid of being mocked by the same authorities and, to an extent, even by the media. By publishing testimonies like this on the public news papers, victims can reach out not only to the higher authorities who may notice and help but also to the people as a whole which would help in creating awareness.