Legal review in the vicinity of cyber violence against women

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The penetrating gender differentiation in our society enhances though the internet gives expedient bulwark of obscurity and fake identities. Anonymous use of social media, women and girls are being targeted via the internet or by Mobile phones, cyber violence not only outrage their modesty and harm their dignity but also imperil their freedom to fulfill their perspective as a person. Designate global-reach and its congenital caliber of (never forgetting), it can have long-lasting consequences comparison than traditional violence. Due to a lack of awareness regarding cyber laws, the cultural practice of preserving silence after being suffered by some the violence, deficiency of public interchange about this issue become the cause behind the escalation of online violence. Research named Tactical Tech, they have started to illustrating social media issues and noticed an increasing rate of online violence against women, they said between 2014 to 2017 there is a lot of progress in a situation that people are discussing and doing research about this violence. Online violence is creating a stumbling block in the forward movement of those journalists and activist women who want to use this technology to further their cause. Online violence should be inscribed as gender-based violence and discrimination as well as a threat to freedom of speech. (Karaman, S. (2017, 11 29).
In the constitution of Bangladesh it guarantees the right to life, privacy, freedom of press and speech, later two of the rights are restricted, restrictions must be rational and in every restriction, there is certain protected interest, such as decency, morality, defamation, contempt of court, incitement, etc. Our country is party to the core human rights treaties, In 1993 UN General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on the Elimination of violence against women which defines the duty of the states to take action against gender-based violence, physical, mental any act of coercion, threat, deprivation of liberty, etc. The United Nations Committee general recommendation No .35 on gender-based violence against women, the committee stated that Gender-based violence against women happens in all spaces and domain of human interaction,
which includes family, workplace, politics, sports, and contemporary form of violence occurring through online and digital space.

The government should upsurge and increase its contribution to the issues of women’s rights in cyberspace to accomplish gender equality and gender justice in the form of fundamental rights. (Halder & Jaishankar). The Internet has become an inception for sexual communication, and expanding of internet pornography business has also lead to the development, which escalates serious cyber affairs. (Tom Young, 1999)
All the crimes in Bangladesh tried before sessions court or magistrate court but after the establishment of cyber tribunal crimes related to cyberspace tried there under section 68 of the ICT Act (Amendment) Act 2013. An auxiliary to the prosecution and the punishment of offender they can seek help from the law enforcement agencies to block those sites and also file an injunction and compensation under section 151 of CPC 1908. Than penal code 1860 section 509 states that it will make an offense if anyone using any words, gesture, sign to any women which can lead to an overrunning of her privacy, the maximum punishment of this offense is one year jail or fine or both . than section 500 & 504 of penal code penalize for defamation and intending to provoke them into breaching the public peace. The maximum punishment for both of the offenses is 2 years jail, or fine or with both. But in those provisions of laws, there is no specific indication of cyberspace harassment which is a vital gap. Then under section 57 of ICT Act 2006, if anybody intentionally transmits or published anything in the web media which obscene, fake and if anybody sees, hears anything to the relevant circumstances, it will be regarded as an offense and the punishment is 14 year and a fine of one crore taka. In this section, there is no specific definition of what is defamation, what is religious hurt, what can be considered as harassment or offense, being an ambiguous section it is thoroughly misusing, in case of digital security act it is also the same but the punishment of the Act is more severe than later one. Pornography Control Act 2012 under section 8 (a), penalize for manufacturing pornography and the maximum punishment for this is 7 years jail and a fine of two lakhs taka, section 8 (b), penalize for harming someone’s social status, blackmailing or for emotional abuse by the means of pornography. The maximum punishment of this offense is 5 years jail and a fine of two lakhs taka. Suppression of violence against women and children (Amendment) Act 2003, under section 10 of this act penalizes for sexual persecution including indecent gesture. Then section 14 penalizes for publication of the identity of the victim and section 9A penalizes for abetting the suicide of a woman. Bangladesh telecommunication Act 2001, section 69 penalizes for obscene and indecent massages and section 70 penalizes for creating annoyance by telecommunication. Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1976, penalizes anyone for insulting any woman by signs, gesture, sounds or any other means in a public place. In all of these laws, so many gaps are observed regarding cyberspace how to illuminate the place of occurrence. There should be an individual law that is especially associated with cyber harassment, violence issues. There is no such adequate research and information on how these laws are being used to convey cyber violence against women.

Footnotes:
1.Dr Savita Srivastava, Pessimistic Side of Information & Communication Technology: Cyber Bullying & Legislature Laws, Volume 1, No.1, November – December 2012, Available Online at http://warse.org/pdfs/ijacst03112012.pdf
2.Karaman, S. (2017, 11 29). Women support each other in the face of harassment online, but policy reform is needed. The LSE Women, Peace and Security blog. London: The London School of Economics and Political Science. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2017/11/29/women-support-each-other-in-the-face-of-harassment
3.Constitution of Bangladesh Articles , 31 ,32,39 respectively
4.UN Women. A Brief Overview on the United Nations on Violence Against Women , Available Online at https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women
5.Debarati Halder and K. Jaishankar, (June, 2011), Cyber Crime and the Victimization of Women: Laws, Rights and Regulations, https://www.amazon.com/Cyber-Crime-Victimization-Women-Regulations/dp/1609608305
6.A computer crime , a joint report by Tom young in ,24th February 1999 , https://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/computer.pdf
7.The code of civil procedure , 1908 , section 151 , https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/bd/bd022en
8.The penal code 1860 , section 509, 500, 504 respectively
9.Information and communication technology Act 2006 , section 57
10.Pornography control Act 2012 , section 8 (a) (b)
11.Suppression of violence against women and children (Amendment ) Act 2003, section 9a , 10 , 14 respectively
12.Bangladesh telecommunication Act 2001 , section 69
13.Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1976

resistviolence@_2020

resistviolence@_2020

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