Teen Point of View

Measures to protect women from online harassment

TOPIC OF THE MONTH: In India, do you feel that there are enough measures to protect women from online harassment?

Harm done to an individual, especially a woman, is a matter of concern for the nation. It’s a shame if it’s done through the internet, which was created to facilitate our lives. Cyber harassment compromises a user’s privacy and even poses a threat to their physical safety. However, India’s government has taken many measures including organizing awareness programmes and passing laws stating punishment for such cyber bullies.
Janisha Bhatia (13)
St Joseph’s Convent Girls School, Jalandhar

The current epoch of digitalization has yielded immense potential in the way we do things; however, it has brought with it a colossal number of stumbling blocks, one of them being the growing number of cases of online harassment of women. There are laws that exist that help prevent such offences. However, we are not at the stage where there are ironclad principles that govern online harassment very stringently.
Aanya Mishra (14)
St Theresa’s School, Bendur, Mangaluru

Online harassment of women is on the rise in India. The internet is used to harass, threaten, and maliciously embarrass women verbally, emotionally and sexually. The measures taken to prevent this are not effective. There are many women protection cells, but this does not eliminate harassment online. Digital forensics and cyber security teams need to be more vigilant.
Praveen Babu
Vidyaniketan, Thiruvananthapuram

Rules to protect women’s rights in India are stringent but not sufficiently strong. We live in a digital world and due to the pandemic everything is playing out in online mode. In India, over 41% users are sexually and mentally harassed online. In India law means just a law.
Vaishnavi Narayan (14)
St Joseph’s Convent High School, Jethuli, Patna

During the Covid-19 pandemic, connectivity on digital platforms hiked. An escalation of the negative to the digital space — cyber harassment —emerged. But neither substantial metrics to measure its extent nor an assessment of the efforts to counter it has been made. It suddenly intensified. A safe and inclusive digital space, if created, will potentially increase women’s online participation, driving positive economic outcomes.
Riddhima Singh Bidawat
Sophia Girls’ Sr. Sec. School, Bhilwara

Harassment of women online has decreased. Nowadays, through the internet itself, more awareness is spreading among women regarding online harassment. Women are more aware and able to protect themselves with the right advice and guidelines to prevent any such situation.
Immanuel SJ
St Xavier’s College, Thumba

Yes, there are enough measures to protect women from online harassment. Firstly, we have 24×7 helpline numbers. Secondly, the victim has the right to file a complaint at local police stations or cyber investigation cells.
Gauri Sharma (15)
St Joseph’s Convent High School, Jethuli, Patna

In India, harassment complaints are treated as a girl’s way of getting attention just like the #MeToo movement. Online harassment is definitely very prevalent. More than 3.2 thousand cases of cyber harassment against women were reported in 2020, and yes, many crimes are ignored. Our government has definitely tried to make a wall against these crimes but we still have a long way to go, as many loopholes need to be addressed. Stricter laws have to be made and enforced to provide a secure online environment for women.
Ishita Sharma
Sophia Girls’ Sr. Sec. School, Bhilwara