Bullying power

In the cyber space, unsuspecting teens are increasingly turning into potential offenders or victims of harassment. Parents, children and police alike are grappling with the problem of how to deal with the issue as statistics and research on the topic is limited. 

The cyber cell staff of Chennai police are on their toes keeping the social media menace- free. From a 13-year-old giving away gold jewels to escape an online harasser to a Class 9 student creating a fake profile of his school teacher because she punished him. Cyber Crime Inspector of Police Melwyn Raj says while complaints pour in, cases are not registered due to reluctance on the part of parents. 

“The Information Technology Act must be more comprehensive in dealing with cybercrime and the Juvenile Justice Act needs to be amended as it does not say on how to deal with a juvenile online offender”, he said. 

In a study by Intel Securities on school students using social media in India, it was found that 43 per cent active users have experienced cruel behaviour and 52 per cent indicated they have bullied others. The study highlighted that the reason for the behaviour was because others had been mean to them. “School children now involve in sexting and sharing nude pictures through chatting Apps. This is an area which needs a lot of study and unfortunately, no one has closely studied the behaviour of children on social media platforms,” says UNICEF India (Tamil Nadu & Kerala), Communication Specialist, Sugata Roy. According to Melwyn Raj, in a month, at least three students come with their parents with an unofficial complaint. Recently, the cyber cell nabbed a college goer for blackmailing a 13-year-old into giving gold jewels from her house after he lured her into sending him a few of her semi-nude pictures.

“The girl did not know what to do, her working parents leave home early and reach late. The girl befriended him on Facebook and began chatting. She sent a few inappropriate pictures and the accused blackmailed her with it. The accused, a first-yearcollege student would come near a window of her house through which she would hand him a piece of jewellery each time”, said the police source, adding, the parents got her a smart phone which was a mistake. They should have got her a basic model phone”, he said. 

When the parents came to know of it, they lodged a complaint but wanted the youth to be let- off with a warning and the gold recovered. A formal complaint was not lodged. If this is a case of a schoolgirl being victimised, another complaint that the cyber cell dealt with, was of a Class 9 student of a school in Nungambakkam who created a fake profile on social media of his class teacher who often punished him. 

“He did not like her as he was also at the receiving end of her punishments and scoldings. He created a fake Facebook profile where other students came and posted abusive comments and even sent friend requests to other teachers of the school. When things got out of hand, the teacher approached the Cyber cell who traced the IP address and found out the residential addresses of the perpetrator. But before going to his house, they crosschecked the address with the school records and found that it was her student”, said the police. 

The school did not want its name tarnished and the parents begged to save the child. Eventually, the student was given a transfer certificate. The police quoted another case which left the cyber cell department shocked. A middle-aged college lecturer alleged that she kept receiving vulgur messages on Facebook from an unknown person. “We kept investigating thinking it would be one of her students but we traced the IP address to the house of her brother-in-law. We called him for questioning, but it turned out it was his son, a Class 9 student who was sending the vulgar messages to his aunt”, he said. 

“We summoned the family members to the Cyber Cell space in the Commissioner’s office where the woman slapped his nephew several times in front of the police”, he said. Incidents like these are kept under wraps as it is considered shameful conduct, and against values we hold dear. Unfortunately that case was also not registered, say police.

City based criminologist Michael L Valan says, “In the cyber space everyone one is vulnerable. Either you are vulnerable by being a victim or an offender. Most of them do not think of it as a serious crime which is the problem.” 

With the cyber laws still in its teething stages, law enforcement has a tough time reining in juveniles in conflict with cyber laws.