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Looming Threat of Cybercrimes in Nepal

Manasa Pradhan

A month ago, a friend’s cousin had been threatened by a random anonymous user on Instagram who had hacked her phone, got hold of her nudes, and was demanding ransom in exchange for deleting those pictures. I advised her to file a case at the cybercrime department as soon as possible. She was unable to express her concerns to her parents but after a few counseling sessions with my friend, she finally dared to tell her parents. After filing a case at the Cyber Crime branch, she reported the anonymous user of her taking legal actions. Soon enough, the hacker apologized and said: “it was a joke” before leaving her alone. The legal action didn’t go further.

Adding to the omnipresent pile of issues surrounding gender violence in India, the “Bois Locker Room” case once spread like wildfire with the hashtag “#boyslockerroom” over social media like Instagram and Twitter, fueling an outrage. Screenshots of a private group chat on Instagram named ‘Bois Locker Room’ consisted of young schoolboys who shared images of girls, including underage girls, without their knowledge or consent and degraded them through vulgar comments. One of the girls reported the group, only to receive threats from the members of the group chat. Additionally, in another turn of events, a separate Instagram group consisting of just girls was exposed which was sharing pictures of men from private profiles and commenting upon it. They even degraded men who rejected them by calling them “gay” and even fat-shaming some of them.

A similar instance a few months ago in May, where a subreddit called ‘Nepalibabes’ was under a cloud after the screenshots of the conversation surfaced on the internet. The users were found degrading and body shaming several girls’ pictures, defiling them through inappropriate comments, and using foul language.

In the face of the pandemic, people are prone to be victims of cybercrimes. People are now more than ever relying on the internet to get things done. In a personal instance, one of the online classes held on Zoom was interrupted by a stranger who got hold of the classroom link. The stranger hadn’t disclosed their name so it was impossible to track them. Since then, stricter regulations were placed to conduct further online classes. Hence, it can be concluded that increasing usage of the internet has left many unaware netizens to be terrorized by internet trolls, hackers, and even harassers.

The Legal Mechanisms

According to Nepal Telecom, 63% of the total population of Nepal used the internet in 2019. A rapidly increasing cyberspace is the breeding ground for cybercrimes. Cybercrime is an act of creating, distributing, altering, stealing, misusing, and destroying information through the computer without the use of physical force and against the will or interest of the victim. In 2015/16, the Kathmandu District Court reported 50 cases of cybercrime, 19 of which were sexual harassment. The numbers were 14 out of 27 cybercrime cases in the year 2016/17. Similarly, the cybercrime bureau reported that out of 5,574 cases filed since 2016, a majority of online abuse are faced by women.    

Currently, we do have a few laws that could be used to deal with the emerging issues of cybercrimes. Starting from Instagram’s policies itself, if someone is threatening to share things you intended to be private and asking you to send them money or anything else, you have options to contact the police and report them. The victim can also report the account to Instagram as well as block them so that they no longer have access to the account. Not only Instagram but other apps such as Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, etc have their own set of policies that are placed to protect the users from harassment online.

Backing this up is Article 28 of the Constitution of Nepal which states the Right to Privacy is inviolable concerning the person and their reputation. According to Section 47 of The Electronic Transactions Act, 2063 (2008), if any person publishes or displays any material on the internet which are prohibited to publish or display by the prevailing law or which may be contrary to public morality or decent behavior or any types of materials which may spread hate, the offender can be punished with imprisonment up to five years or fine up to one hundred thousand rupees or both.

If similar cases were to be unfolded in Nepal, there would be tons that are lurking in the shadows—cyberstalking, hacking, threatening to share private pictures, harassing through constant messaging, and even sending unsolicited images of sexual organs. Weeding these hidden private groups or individual accounts and reporting them cannot be the only solution in the long run. A legal framework must be established to ease the ability to punish offenders and give justice to the victims. However, laws in Nepal are notoriously slow to adapt to technology. Moreover, most cases aren’t even reported as many victims complain authorities fail to take quick actions or just lose interest in prolonged cases. This has crippled the system in finding the culprit as soon as possible.

The Underlying Issues

The rising online harassment cases have started a much-needed dialogue on rape culture and its muted manifestation under the surface of the undefeated patriarchal background of the Nepalese society. It is to be noted that the boys of the “Bois Locker Room” were not full-fledged criminals but minors who were being raised under the protection of a society that has long blamed the victims and normalized rape jokes. While the society accepts and defends its men with slogans of ‘boys will be boys’, legally, however it is not accepted and termed as an offence.

Society has long victim blamed in cases where women are victimized. In rape cases, people question the clothes the victim wore or why she wasn’t home before evening or raise questions upon her character. The internet provides a blanket for the society to hide under, raising this baseless blame under anonymity. A meme page will garner crude comments under a post where a celebrity has come forward with sexual allegations on her male co-star. A huge outrage will be broken out with a But no one has to go that far, just asking any of your female friends if they have ever faced online harassment will bring a response.

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Feminist writer Nirvana Bhandary (nirvanabh_ on Instagram), who was one of many women who were victimized by this sinister act by the Reddit group had spoken up about the issue. She simplified the scenario by a metaphor, “Say, you see a beautiful girl walking wearing a short dress or showing her skin in any way. If you approach her and respectfully say she looks gorgeous, that’s the equivalent of leaving a respectful comment on her Instagram post. If you follow her while hiding behind corners, take pictures of her secretly and later look at it with your friends by calling her derogatory slurs. That is what the Reddit page was doing.” She further explained, “You just would not do that in real life, so why would you think it is acceptable because you are hidden behind a fake username?”

Issues like these highlight the shortcomings on the part of parenting, schooling, and the environment for growth in general as well. The offenders that were brought into the limelight were minors, kids in fact, yet they felt they were entitled to be body-shaming, dragging others and disgracing them. It highlights they were unaware they could be held responsible at any point. We’re all part of this problem–these kids who are being held responsible are only a reflection of our ignorance. It is the time to take individual responsibility in speaking up against what society considers “harmless” as it manifests into an actual crime later due to the same negligence. Laws punish offenders but the prime objective of laws is to prevent such crimes firsthand.

Cyberspace is a broad arena where crime can be rampant if there is no control. Although social media is a great platform, especially for women to post pictures and feel the confidence in accepting themselves, events like these can bring counter negative effects. The most vulnerable are those who aren’t aware of such issues. Young people, especially under the age of 18, must be exempted from sending pictures that could be used against them. Others should be careful in exchanging such sensitive materials on the internet that they do not want to be public. Not everyone has the right mindset and taking precautions should be considered.

But the bigger role here is for those who receive such sensitive information. Suppressing the urge to spread hate shouldn’t be too hard—it’s basic human decency. Hence, victim-blaming in such sensitive instances is absurd. It’s high time we take responsibility for ourselves because we can be one less criminal. To control any crime, we have to target its foundation and crimes like sexual harassment on cyberspace particularly can be uprooted by targeting the fortified rape culture prevalent in our society.