The New Kid at School
The
Situation
Henry
was a shy sixth-grader who recently arrived at school from out of state. One
day as he was browsing a social media site he came across a page about the
school with pictures of students, including one of him labeled “The Fat Nerd.”
Upset, he posted a reply expressing his dismay.
The
postings became nastier, and soon some students were making loud comments in
the lunchroom and on the playground. A teacher overhead some of the names, and
asked Henry what was going on. He described the social media page and the Cyber
Bullying.
What
Worked
The
school, which had trained its teachers and had a zero-tolerance policy on bullying,
responded quickly. They identified the ringleaders, and with the help of their
parents, had the creator of the unauthorized school page take it down from the
social media site. School officials hosted sessions for parents and students
about Cyber Bullying and how to prevent it.
What
Didn’t Work
Henry had to endure many weeks of feeling humiliated and hurt before
anyone realized what was going on. His parents didn’t even know because Henry
was too embarrassed to tell them. It will take the still-shy teen a long time
to regain his confidence.
Another
Case Study
MUMBAI:
Two cases of cyber bullying, where profiles of two young women on
social networking sites were replaced with obscene material, ended in acquittal
after the prosecution failed to produce evidence.
In
both the cases, the court said the prosecution failed to submit electronic
evidence. In one of the cases, the investigating officer was not available for
examination in the court.
In
the first case, in September 2006, a Thane resident prepared a fake profile of
a college student, posted obscene comments about her and also provided her
telephone number. Following this, the student started receiving vulgar messages
and calls. On her complaint, the police registered a case, identified the cyber
cafe from where the accused had posted the obscene material and arrested him.
The accused had used his personal computer for the activity.
The
court said, "There is no direct or circumstantial evidence on record to
connect the accused with the alleged profile.'' The prosecution could not
secure the presence of the investigating officer and other witnesses, the court
added. Electronic records include data stored either on harddiskor computer
memo, online photographs, sound recordings, data on email and website content,
SMS and MMS.
In
the second case, in September last year, a prospective groom posted pictures of
the woman consuming liquor and smoking a cigarette on a social
networking site, after their marriage was called off. The victim was from
Nagpur.
Her
second marriage proposal was also cancelled after the sister of the second
prospective groom received the same pictures on email. The victim's father
lodged a complaint, and had the youth accused as responsible for the incident
arrested. In this case, too, cops failed to produce electronic records.
Besides, the father of the victim was not keen on pursuing the case since his
daughter was married by the time the court made its decision in the case.
Advocate
Prashant Mali, cyber law and cyber security expert whose firm represented the
accused in both cases said, "There lies a lacuna in gathering, storing and
producing electronic records in the court of law by police authorities. Now,
the police department is producing IP address and call data records as the only
electronic evidence. But here lies a huge loophole; hence police should combine
old ways of investigating with new ways, to make a water tight case.''
Bibliography
Bibliography
