What goes on the internet, doesn’t stay on the internet
At the age of 16, Shetu* living on the outskirts of a village in Gaibandha, got into a relationship with one of her contemporaries at school. He arranged a phone for her, through which they communicated over Facebook. Months later, when Shetu's mother found out, she seized her phone, ending their relationship. A year later, Shetu accepted a friend request from a stranger on Facebook.
The next day was the start of a waking nightmare. She heard whispers and smirks down the hallways from students. Her classmates pointed fingers at her and passed out looks of judgement. Later, she found out that intimate pictures of her had been leaked from that fake account to all of her mates at school.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Distraught, Shetu informed her parents, who took up the matter with the local UNO member, who later presented the case to the Union Parishad Chairman. The chairman called upon Shetu's then-boyfriend and questioned him, but he refused to admit to the crime.
Later, locals took matters into their own hands and inflicted physical violence on him, after which he confessed that he and five of his friends were involved in the incident. Eventually, the chairman made the boy sign a written contract that he would never commit such an act.
While one would think that this was the end of Shetu's troubles, it wasn't. To this date, Shetu worries about those pictures being shared and is blamed for her own misfortune by others who know of the incident.
Worse still, Shetu still has no idea how to keep herself safe in the virtual world and remains a potential victim for future acts of cyber harassment.
According to a study commissioned by ActionAid Bangladesh in 2022, a total of 63.51 percent of women respondents reported facing online violence, which was 50.19 percent in 2021.
Online harassment can range from hate speech and verbal abuse to (threat of) circulation of doctored photos and videos. In worst cases, perpetrators record rape in the form of video and photographs and then use it to extort or silence the victim. At times, the same recordings are used to further force the victim into submission.
"The first thing that a victim can do is go to the police station and file a general diary (GD) to report the crime. Almost every police station now has a 'Nari, shishu, boyoshko, protibondhi desk' (women, children, elderly, and persons with disabilities) help desk," said Muntashirul Islam, Additional DIG, Bangladesh Police Headquarters.
But if someone isn't comfortable with that approach, they can lodge a complaint with "Police Cyber Support for Women," which has a helpline, a Facebook page, and an email. All the personnel in this unit are women to make it easier for victims to discuss the incidents.
"Victims are also provided counselling and advised on what their available options are for taking action against the crime committed or the perpetrator. We tell them to visit their local police station. Based on the primary information we extract from the pages or accounts that are blackmailing the victim, we send the relevant information to those stations. In cases where we can identify the perpetrator, we try to track down their location and send the information to the respective Police Superintendent," Muntashirul added.
But this whole action takes motion only if the victim lodges a complaint to the police station in the first place. And if the respective police station, depending on its manpower and diligence starts an investigation, the cyber support cell provides necessary technical support. Individuals can also lodge complaints directly to the detective branch, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime, CTTC.
When I visited the "Police Cyber Support for Women" website, I found that there were no specific directions for women on how to lodge a complaint. Then I knocked on their Facebook platform, and after a week's wait, I received a set of instructions from their account, which stated that the victim must explicitly describe the incident in Bangla and provide screenshots as evidence. The delay indicates that this unit still suffers from major managerial issues and has not yet been able to find a mechanism to give victims prompt support.
Then I called their helpline number: 01320000888. Thankfully, someone from the cyber support cell picked up immediately. When I told the officer that I was calling on Shetu's behalf to lodge a harassment case, they said that either Shetu or her parents would have to reach out to their platform via Facebook for a complaint to be recorded.
However, the manpower crisis often becomes a formidable obstacle in processing most complaints. The case of another victim, Mayesha* confirms this.
"When I was abroad for my Masters, I decided to break up with my ex-boyfriend after a rift. A few days later, my friends informed me that a fake account had been disbursing pictures I had shared with him. So, of course, I knew who was sending these photos. When I reached out to CTTC and lodged a complaint through their Facebook portal, no one reached out to me," she said, adding, "Even though a few years have passed since the incident, I constantly live in fear that I will be threatened with those pictures and relive that trauma all over again."
According to Muntashirul, many of the cases get dealt with at the counselling stage. But sometimes victims also feel uncomfortable providing the information required to make a lawful case against the perpetrator.
If a victim's photos are disclosed on sites where the police don't have oversight, what is the extent of actions they can take?
"Most of these porn sites are run by foreign administrators and our government doesn't have a good relationship with them. Sometimes when we reach out to these sites, and they cooperate with us, we can take action. But in most cases, we don't get to reach them at all," admitted Muntashirul.
Women and girls file cases or complaints only under the most extreme cases or when there is one particular perpetrator or set of perpetrators. But when it comes to online trolling or verbal abuse, most of the time, women don't have any recourse, except to fight back on their own.
"Right after the Shahbagh movement, someone put up my number on several porn sites. As you can imagine, my phone blew up with calls. Some had also photoshopped my pictures on naked images and spread it around. The comments on my Facebook feed had death threats and were incredibly obscene," said Lucky Akter, a central committee member of the Communist Party of Bangladesh and an organiser of the Shahbagh Movement.
"And if that wasn't enough, they [perpetrators] also started leaving obscene comments when I posted pictures of my daughter. Sometimes my comrades try to defend me and sometimes I even comment and engage. But it's honestly an uphill battle."
When asked if she had lodged any complaints with the police, she said, "How many cases will I lodge? I can't compete against these mobs. This is a political fight and I will fight it politically."
A study titled "Cyber violence against women in Bangladesh" by the International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, finds that most victims of cyber violence in the country do not report the incidents to the authorities, mainly due to a lack of awareness and trust in the legal system.
Shamanta Hossain*, a final year student at a private university in the capital, said, "When my ex-boyfriend threatened to leak my nudes, I was completely frozen. I knew that he was in the wrong, but I know society or even the police won't look at it that way, and I felt like I would be blamed for sending those pictures in the first place."
"But now that I feel the urge to seek justice, I realise I'm helpless. I can't afford a lawyer without getting my parents involved. Even if I do, I deleted my entire chat with my ex-boyfriend in order to stop feeling embarrassed and forget the incident at the time. Now I perpetually live with lurking fear that my pictures may be out there," she added.
What can Bangladesh do to better cyber security and justice for women?
The current laws are not adequate for addressing many of the most widely occurring cyber-crimes, particularly those relating to revenge porn or cyberstalking, according to legal experts.
The Pornography Control Act, 2012, and Digital Security Act, 2018 are in place, but for most women facing such harassment, the law does not provide a recourse given challenges in terms of prolonged delays in the courts, the social and financial costs of litigation and most crucially the stigma attached to even making allegations regarding cyber-crimes, said Sara Hossain, honorary executive director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and Supreme Court lawyer.
"Law enforcement agencies cannot adequately respond to victims of cybercrimes because they do not prioritise these cases and are diverting scarce resources into completely misconceived actions suppressing legitimate speech. Victims of cybercrime often find themselves in extremely vulnerable situations where their privacy is compromised. In this case they need more than just legal support from law enforcement agencies, i.e. referral to professional services such as medical, psychological or even technical," she said.
Seeking help from law enforcement agencies can be an emotionally stressful process as well and the agencies are often not victim-friendly or women-friendly, which discourages survivors from seeking legal help. Law enforcement agencies need to be trained on gender sensitive services in order to enable a safe space and justice seeking behaviour among victims of cybercrime or better cater to their needs, she added.
The victim's support services in general need to be backed up with efficient manpower so that victims are better catered to. There also needs to be better awareness of cybercrimes and digital literacy among the general population.
Tareq Bin Rashid, Deputy Commissioner of Cyber Crime, said that they are planning to launch a web series to raise awareness on cyber security and provide better guidance for individuals to lodge cases.
It is unfortunate that despite our professed commitments to a Digital Bangladesh, we have failed to ensure an ecosystem in which women and girls can thrive and use technology to create a more gender-friendly world. The digital sphere, for an overwhelming majority of women and girls, remain as unsafe as the real world, with similar—if not amplified—struggles with accessing justice for sexual violence. It is evident that our policymakers, and those working on ensuring safe cyberspaces for women and girls, need to urgently deal with the pressing issue and come up with holistic solutions to ensure their safety.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.
Nazifa Raidah is a Sub-editor at City Desk at The Daily Star. Reach her at nazifa@thedailystar.net
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