In today’s era, internet has become a part of our life and connects us with the whole world. Through the internet/social media we came to know what is going around us and all over the world. During pandemic, the internet provided classroom for students, office for employees and also a tool of earning for those involved in network marketing, social-media marketing so on. Social media is a tool of communication, a tool of gaining knowledge from different pages or groups but also a tool of crime. It has opened a new platform for criminals to harass, loot and intimidate other social media users. Bullying is not a new word to us. Bullying means behaviour of a person who hurts or frightens someone smaller or less powerful, often forcing that person to do something they don’t want to do. We consider Bullying and stalking as same thing but stalking is separately defined as the act of the following someone very closely and watching its every move. And illegally following someone over a while and intimidating or forcing someone to do anything is a crime.
The rapidly growing usage of internet and usage of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter open a window for criminals to misuse these platforms for their wrongful gain. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are the most used social media platform amongst adults around 80 per cent plus of the total adult population use these social media platforms. Usage of Social media is becoming a daily routine for us and we are wholly and solely dependent on it whether it’s our university/college work or office work.
Cyber-bullying is a form of bullying but different from traditional bullying as it takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, by using social media sites and sharing negative or false content about someone else to harass, intimidate or cause great harm to another. In India, almost 8 out of 10 faces cyber-bullying or cyber-stalking by following on social media and sending messages through chat rooms or email. They try to bully them by sending crummy content and try to indulge them in vulnerable activities and by the messages or video calls they intimidate them to do this or abstains them to do, whatever they think is feasible for themselves, and when the bullied think that the things are going unexpectedly then he/she publishes that content on social media sites, which goes viral within days and that affects the bullies reputation, his image and to cope with it the victim commits suicide. This type of cybercrime is at its peak, it’s a tool for criminals to commit serious crimes like blackmailing, harassment, and also murder by defaming his or her reputation or we can call it abetment to suicide. As the quote goes words scar, rumours destroy and bullies kill. But unfortunately in India, there is no specific law for cyber-bullying or cyber-stalking but these come under some provisions of Indian Penal Code like sections 499, 292A, 354A, 354D, 507 and 509. The aforesaid sections of Indian penal code are not completely compiled with cyber-stalking or cyber-bullying but to some extent, it can be brought under these sections. Besides the Indian penal code, some provisions of IT Act 2000 deals with cyber-stalking or cyber-bullying. The growing use of social media sites as we see the youths are becoming social media devotees which are not stupendous for society. Social media is alluring both the boys and girls and the demerits of it are egregious for everyone.
Besides the dark side of social media which is a tool of crime for criminals, social media also plays a vital role in enhancing useful knowledge and in spotlighting the issues. In India, we have seen a lot of instances where social media revealed the facts and the issues got viral through hashtags and the demand or requirement of people reaches higher authorities. Last year the zomato case got viral on social media where the girl tries to defame the pizza boy but with the shreds of evidence which also got viral on social media and give some relief to the pizza boy. Recently another case went viral in which a girl was beating a cab driver cruelly and try to defame the cab driver but with the use of social media, the reality came into forth. Social media is like a platform for justice, where feminists try to create havoc amongst youths social media sites reveals the facts.
In conclusion, my opinion is, social media is both perilous and important, it is now on us how to use it. It should be used appropriately and in chatting rooms/ messengers proper measures should be taken while talking with unknown persons because no one is aware of the true intention of the said unknown person, it maybe your enemy or maybe a gang of criminals. Furthermore, a proper legal frame work is needed and a separate act should be introduced which will deal with crimes related to social media.