They should have a separate complaints cell to look into all issues related to women’s safety, says Rashmi Karandikar, former DCP of Mumbai Police’s cyber cell.
They should have a separate grievance cell to look into all issues related to women’s safety, says Rashmi Karandikar, Former DCP of Cyber Cell, Mumbai Police
Rashmi Karandikar His heart is in the right place. The former Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of the Cyber Cell in Mumbai conducted the investigation. bully bai case In which pictures of hundreds of Muslim women were posted on an app and auctioned online. he also checked club house case Where in an oral chat room hundreds of young boys and girls used obscene language and talked about sexual harassment of women.
Ms Karandikar not only caught the accused in record breaking time and also filed the charge sheet despite facing the inevitable challenges of keeping tabs on the social media world. He did his Ph.D. On ‘The impact of globalization on urban women’ and is currently the DCP of Civil Defense.
she talks passionately Hindu Regarding the need to counsel women victims of abuse on social media and says that social media apps should appoint grievance officers to make women feel safe.
After examining both the cases Bulli Bai And clubhouse, what would you say is the common thread between the two?
In both the cases the accused are very minor. What their parents have no idea is their alter ego in the virtual world, where they don’t know each other personally but have group affinity. In both cases, the rules were the same – everyone had to remain anonymous, using only international numbers and not Gmail. They all have the same ideology – women should not step out of their homes and are fanatical believers and followers Manusmriti, There is resentment towards a particular religious community and hatred towards the women of that community.
Several accused in both the cases have been released on bail and one of the conditions of bail is for them to be counseled on social media behaviour. Do you think it helps the accused?
Counseling in such a case is tantamount to sending an alcoholic to rehabilitation. Even if the abuser regularly goes to rehab and does what they are told to do, they should still be supervised once they are out there. Similarly, you can counsel a young mind for a few months, but it is really important to track his social media behavior after the session is over.
Even victims of social media abuse need counseling. Survivors have been subjected to online auctions of their body parts through these apps. These women have experienced a very different form of abuse, sexual abuse – their photos were morphed, hate speech was being used against them – they definitely need counseling.
You also caught the one who threatened the cricketer’s one year old daughter with rape? What does this say about our society?
It is very unfortunate to know that people reduce a one year old baby to one part of his body. It really goes to show that we are a sick society with a very distorted attitude and mindset.
What do you think needs to be done to create social media awareness?
There is a need to study cyber psychology through which people should be taught to use social media responsibly. Do’s and don’ts should be explained to everyone, not just the youth. For minors and teens, parents, teachers and psychologists need to work together on this so they don’t have a false sense of identity and look for fake validation in the virtual world. Young people today feel that they can do whatever they want by hiding their identity and they cannot be traced, but they need to be told that wherever they are, they will be caught.
How do you think we can start this?
We need to start by redefining women’s safety. The need for women to walk safely on the street and then abuse them online cannot be talked about. Social media platforms need to track and block handles and users who use obscene and inappropriate language or words towards women, and this can be easily done using their algorithms. The algorithm needs to be developed and promoted not only in English but in all local languages. Just like their algorithm is used to keep a close eye on handling such rapid suicide attempts.
Secondly, all social media apps should have a separate grievance cell to look into all the issues related to women safety only which can work round the clock to prevent abuse of women and safety of women on these apps. If this is done, it will actually encourage women to come forward and complain. Social media apps earn so much from India, so it is also their responsibility to make women feel safe using their apps.