mid-day editorial: Shame on you, online abusers

Those who harass women online tend to think of them as easy targets. But women are no longer willing to take this abuse lying down. Instead, they have now started to turn the tables on these cowardly perpetrators by dumping all the shame on them, like one woman from Juhu who found obscene messages from four men in her Facebook inbox

Those who harass women online tend to think of them as easy targets. But women are no longer willing to take this abuse lying down. Instead, they have now started to turn the tables on these cowardly perpetrators by dumping all the shame on them, like one woman from Juhu who found obscene messages from four men in her Facebook inbox.

A report in this paper yesterday highlighted how the woman, Tara Kaushal, took screen grabs of the filthy messages and pasted them on the culprits' Facebook wall, naming and shaming them in full view of the World Wide Web. Her action has blown the lid off the men, one of whom has a history of harassment which is now out in the open.

A senior inspector from Juhu police station was quoted saying that the men will be arrested after their IP addresses are tracked. Legal action by the police is, of course, necessary, but that is just one aspect of the case. What the woman did was to give the men a taste of their own bitter medicine.

Thanks to her, their cowardly actions have been exposed to everyone on their contacts list. This also hammers home the message that it is the culprit that needs to be hauled up and shamed, not the victim, which happens all too often in harassment cases.

The Internet, because of the relative anonymity it affords, is rife with harassment for women. There seems to little fear of the law in the real world, and even less fear in cyber space. Cyber stalkers and abusers believe they can say anything and get away with it. Women too are wary of complaining because they do not want to be caught up in the rigmarole of numerous visits to the cops. Many are not even aware of what the cyber crime cell can do in this regard.

More awareness about cyber crime laws, and what can be done in such cases, is the first step towards tackling online harassment. But naming and shaming the culprits is also an easy recourse for women and ensures immediate and personal consequences for the perpetrators. Criminals, you have been warned.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!