Taking the bullies by the horns

What type are you? The poor-me type or the courageous one? Whatever it may be, the hour belongs to the latter when it comes to cyber bullying. Gone are the days when the victims shed many a tear and hid themselves behind a curtain of shame. The norm now is to take the bull by its horns.

Do we need any big introduction to Taruna Aswani? Over the past several days, we have got used to this name. The US-based Indian girl has taught us a vital lesson by making a courageous move to yank the veil off a cyber bully who went to the extent of threatening and besides indulging in character assassination. It took no time for her screen shots of the threat to go viral on social media.

After a stranger claimed to have hacked into her Google cloud back up, with a threat to release her private pictures and videos, in a daring FB post, she revealed this incident and exhorted girls to rather speak up than purse their lips when faced with these anti-social evils. Doomsday for cyber bullies is not far away, if one goes by the current trend.

Taking the legal route is not for MLA V.T. Balram, a young Congress leader very active on social media. He recently was caught in an online war of words after his Facebook post on a minister’s resignation from the state Cabinet. He seems to have perfected his own strategy in an era that sees sharp political exchanges on Facebook and Twitter.

“Mine is a two-pronged stand. First, I block people making sub-standard comments and those who treat it as a medium to wreak political vengeance. Then, I choose to ignore certain other comments. If any of them raise an issue that seeks attention, I’d listen and take necessary steps. I am against fighting them using legal means. After all, avoiding perpetual offenders is my choice,” says Balram. The abusive content could barely stop him from expressing his opinions.

Student-cum-activist Arundhathi’s was one of the early voices to speak out against the bullies and perverts by posting screen-shots of abusive comments and innuendos. Over time, she says the severity of cyber bullying has come down with the increase in the number of people who react.

“There used to be fear psychosis at first. That a person would lose something beyond the cyber threat. That a reaction would invite disrepute to their name, a bad girl type of shame. Those attitudes are gone. People, especially girls, have mustered the courage to expose the bullies. The support from cyber police is really praiseworthy,” says Arundhathi.

In her view, bullies operating with overseas IDs are not easy to tackle. “There are restrictions to proceed against them, unless they pose a threat to the country’s interests,” says Arundhathi. “Even the flirting types have started requesting me not to publicise their comments. But the context for bullying needs to be widened beyond the sexual ambit,” she adds.

Another recent cyber bullying incident involved director Aashiq Abu. His supportive remark on FB about the Saudi princess Ameerah discarding headgear invited the wrath from many quarters that went on to the extent of abusing his films and their content. The police also seem to be on slippery ground when it comes to isolate cyber bullying. “We get complaints from the public regarding abusive remarks on social media. Cyber bullying is not a section offence. It’s a cyber jargon that has got no legal relevance. But it can manifest into various other offences. The complainants can go for defamation suit, with which police don’t have direct involvement,” says S. Sreejith, IGP, Hurt and Homicide wing.