Cyber Sexual Harassment can range from lewd comments on Facebook and Twitter to uploading a girl's image on a public forum without her consent, from exhibition of unwanted sexual attention to distribution of pornographic materials online. The harassers are not always complete strangers, but may also be friends or acquaintances from off-line social interactions.  

 

When such incidents happen, most girls do not report it to the school authorities or tell their families for fear that they would be blamed, and their characters questioned. In a country where sex is a taboo topic, some are too embarrassed to bring up the issue with elders or even their same-age cousins, and are left to deal with the harassment – or the subsequent trauma caused by it – themselves. 

They are not aware of the kinds of dangers they are exposed to online, or of the legal and institutional support that are available to them (if any). In most cases, women feel that reporting the incidents would not bring them any justice; rather, it would give rise to intrusive questions about her character and bring disgrace to her and her family. If the incidents are of a less severe nature (such as offensive comments on Facebook), they think that authorities would dismiss them as insignificant.   

Meanwhile, even if a girl is brave enough to report the crime, it doesn't mean that justice will prevail in the end. Barrister Sara Hossain, Honorary Director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), gives the example of a female university student who filed a case both with the police and informed the university. “Astonishingly, the university expelled the girl, claiming that they were in possession of obscene photographs of her engaging in immoral activities. The case went to the High Court, and eventually the High Court, in a bench headed by a 'progressive' judge, found against the girl on the basis that she had consented to having her photographs taken at one point in time,” she comments. “What the Court failed to note was that while she may or may not have consented to the relationship initially, and may also have consented to photographs of her being taken for their private use while they were in a relationship, she had never consented to the distribution of the photographs in public.”

Entrenched patriarchal attitudes of institutions that are supposed to protect women from such harassment mean that women shy away from seeking redress. In addition, law enforcement agencies often do not have the technical know-how or the political will to address cases of cyber sexual harassment.

Nina Goswami states that oftentimes it's difficult to identify the perpetrators as they use fake profiles and addresses. The police are hardly ever helpful in tracking them, she adds. 

However, if law enforcers can trace people from across the county for making derogatory comments about the Prime Minister online, then it follows that they have the ability to do so for other threats, including from sexual harassers. No law enforcement agency, however, as of now, monitors content on the web to identify cyber sexual harassers proactively. Only when cases are filed (if then) do they move forward.

On April 21, two Supreme Court lawyers filed a general diary with the Banani Police Station against Arefin Ahmed Shehim for the post highlighted above declaring that he would rape any woman who shows skin. 

With Social Media inundated with such messages, the lawyers state they wanted to encourage other citizens to take legal actions against the perpetrators instead of just raising their voices on social media.

“Openly threatening rape and inciting others to participate in rape are criminal acts that can and must be brought to justice,” says one SC lawyer.

When contacted on May 14, Banani Thana OC Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan informed that “investigation was underway” and that they were working with the DB to identity the perpetrator. He added that he was not under liberty to divulge the progress they had made as it might “hamper” the investigation. 

Stating that this was the first time a cyber sexual harassment crime had been reported to his Thana, he promised that all such cases would be treated in an efficient and sensitive manner. “We will use our best IT experts to solve these cases,” he added.

Rights activists urge affected women to break the silence and report such cases. Salma Ali asserts that human rights organisations would do everything in their power to protect women's privacy, conducting the proceedings in a closed court and ensuring that they do not have to undergo additional harassment from state institutions.

Legal experts note that cases can be filed under the existing Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000 (amended 2003), Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Act 2006 and Pornography Control Act 2012. However, there is no comprehensive law or section adequately dealing with sexual harassment in social media and other digital platforms. 

“The problem is that our laws have not been effectively updated to deal with offences that use digital media, and our evidence laws are still so archaic that they don't allow for use of electronic evidence,” argues Sara. 

Section 57 of the ICT Act states that anyone can be penalised for “any false and obscene posts online” for a maximum of 10 years and maximum fine of 1 crore. However, it does not define what constitutes “obscene”. 

She notes, “Only one or two cases have been filed using the ICT Act for online sexual harassment. As to why the law is not being used to deal with such cases as diligently as it is for defamatory comments made about religion or political figures remains a question. The police, too, do not seem to be using their powers to address such hateful content.” 

Experts note that laws can be used once the crime has been committed, but some regulatory measures must be put in place to prevent these crimes and hate speech from being generated on social media platforms in the first place. 

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation Commission (BTRC) has the authority to monitor hateful content, such as death threats and derogatory comments targeted against particular communities. However, they don't seem to be focusing on these issues, argues Sara. “Of course, the question then arises: what do you prioritise more, the immediate death threats against bloggers, for instance, or the general hate speech on social media? The problem is that our regulators don't seem to be doing either.”  

It's a fine balance between wanting more regulation of social media and wishing it to remain a free space where people can speak their minds. “People need to understand that freedom of speech does not mean freedom to say hurtful and offensive things,” says Nabila Chowdhury, a blogger. 

The cyber space is an extension of the real world; as such, the jingoistic attitudes and patriarchal norms we face on a daily basis in private and public spaces are reflected in the cyber domain as well. Without any protection or systematic support extended to female users, Digital Bangladesh, like real Bangladesh, will continue to be a male-dominated space in which women remain vulnerable.