Bengaluru women harassed by stalker on Facebook

Bengaluru: On March 24, the Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the IT Act, calling it ‘vague’ and ‘unconstitutional’. Section 66A said it was okay to punish those who sent out offensive messages on social media. The country celebrated the judgment, as the right to freedom of speech and expression was upheld. However, the judgment also emboldened cyber stalkers.

A month ago, Sowmya (name changed on request) received a Facebook message from someone named Saurabh Mishra. They had one mutual friend - he appeared to be a batchmate of an acquaintance. “He started talking to me and I ignored him, which is if I am approached by a stranger on social media,” she said.

“He was messaging me on Facebook constantly,” she said. “He talked all through the day and night, even though I never replied even once.” Mishra quickly became angry and hit out with abusive comments. “He started calling me names, he said I was a b**ch and an a%%#$#le because I wasn’t replying to him,” Sowmya said. The messages went on to become sexually explicit.

“I contacted our mutual friend and she said that he had been talking to her too,” said Sowmya. She posted details of the incident on her wall, along with a screenshot of Mishra's Facebook profile. “He got in touch with me immediately and began abusing me,” she said. “When I got a good response from my friends, he came back, pleading with me, saying his profile had been hacked,” she added.

Poornima (name changed), Mishra's batchmate from school, says that she received similar treatment from him. “He responded to Sowmya’s post, saying his profile had been hacked and that he was being punished for something someone else did,” she said. “He was constantly trying to strike up a conversation with me too, but he didn’t go to the extent of verbal abuse,” she said.

Sowmya reported the issue on Commissioner M.N. Reddi’s twitter handle on Wednesday afternoon. “They responded to me within 30 minutes,” said Sowmya, who has been asked to file a formal complaint at the Hennur Police station on Thursday.