Frontline-July(I)-Halting abuse

 Reference Article: Halting abuse (DIVYA TRIVEDI)

The government’s move to update the existing act is a welcome move given the rising incidence of harassment in recent years.

Why an amendment?

• Technology and the ever widening arms of social media have opened up new platforms which are misused to threaten the dignity of women
• The past decade witnessed a spurt in trolling and abuse against women on social media.

Data:

• Amnesty International Survey:
  
  • Nearly a quarter of the women using the Internet (23% of those surveyed) faced online abuse
  • Majority of the abuse was directed at women from marginal backgrounds or politically vocal women including journalists.
• National Crimes Record Bureau:
  
  • Cyber Crimes have witnessed a sharp increase of 6.3% to 12,317 in 2016 from 11,592 in 2015
  • Cases in Crime against Women category reported an increase of 2.9% in 2016 over 2015
  • Uttar Pradesh has reported largest number of cyber crimes and also the most notorious ones followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka
  • In the wake of these newly emerging threats, Government needs to keep pace with the transformations in digital technology and update its laws and policies to curb such menace

About the Act and Proposed Amendment:

• IRWA Amendment Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2012 and was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee
• Based on its observations the concerned Ministry proposed amendments to IRWA

• Some Important Amendments:
  • Under the amendment act the definition of indecent representation will be broadened as follows:
  • Indecent representation’ means:
  • (i) publication or distribution in any manner, of any material depicting women as a sexual object or which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interests; or
  • (ii) depiction, publication or distribution in any manner, of the figure of a woman, her form or body or any part thereof in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent or derogatory to or denigrating women or which is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals
• Penalty:
  
  • The penalty for the violation of the act will be in line woth that under Information Technology Act, 2000
  • For representing women indecently, the punishment for the first offence has been increased to 3 years’ imprisonment from 2 years and a fine between ?50,000 and ?1 lakh from ?2000
  • For subsequent offences, term of imprisonment will be between 2 and 7 years and a fine between ?1lakh and ?5lakh
• Additional Proposals:
  
  • It is also proposed to set up a Centralised Authority under the National Commission of Women, to be headed by the Member Secretary, NCW.
  • It would also have representations from:
    • Advertising Standards Council of India
    • Press Council of India
    • Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and
    • one member with experience of working on women’s issues
  • Any complaint or grievances regarding any programme or advertisement can be made to the authority, which would be authorised to examine the broadcast or publication

Critical Analysis:

It’s not yet clear if the act will be able to tackle the issues efficiently and several apprehensions pertaining to the amendments remain.

• Non Compliance:
  
  • Companies like Yahoo, Facebook Ireland, Facebook India, Google India, Whatsapp etc did not comply with the Supreme Court’s orders asking them to file details of the steps taken to block videos of sexual offences and child pornography
  • Such an instance raises doubts regarding the compliance with new IRWA guidelines as well
• Focus of Indecency:
  
  • Indecency being confused with Morality and Women becoming the targets of the law rather than its beneficiaries remains an issue
  • Innumerable instances from the past show how the IRWA was used to stifle the women’s agency or creative expressions rather than serve the interests of women.
  • The recent criminal case filed against the Malayalam Magazine Grihalakshmi and a 27 year old actress Gilu Joseph is one of the many such examples
• Significance:
  • However, the amendments will certainly widen the scope of the act
  • New forms of communication such as the internet, multimedia messaging, cable television will come under regulations to prevent indecent representation of women.
  • Applications such as skype, viber, whatsapp, chat on, snapchat and instagram will also be brought under the ambit of prohibition
  • It is a step in right direction to deal with emerging menace of Cyber Bullying against people in general and women in particular

Conclusion and Way Forward:

• Whether the new act serves the interests of women or leads to their bodies and sexuality being controlled in the name of morality remains to be seen.
• In the wake of rising violence against the women on the web, it is high time that a Law is enacted to tackle the new menace.
• The success of the amended IRWA will lie in how it interprets “indecency”

By: Chandan Sharma