A series of screenshots of conversations between teen-aged boys from south Delhi have outraged social media users; they allegedly shared pictures of young girls, morphed them and issued rape threats. Their misogynistic conversations in a private group on Instagram, ‘Bois Locker Room’, have gone viral, revealing the ugly side of social media.
While some social media users believe that such group chats merely provide a picture of how young boys talk, other are surprised at the fact how they are normalising 'rape culture' at such young age.
According to the twitter thread and local media reports, a girl shared the screenshots of group chat, which went viral. In retaliation, the boys in the group allegedly began issuing rape threats and even threatened to leak nudes of the women and girls posting the screenshots of the conversation.
While Delhi police are awaiting a formal complaint, the Delhi Women’s Commission has issued a notice to the social media platform Instagram and Delhi police condemning the group for sharing objectionable pictures of underage girls and issuing rape threats.
India has recorded a 25% increase in the number of cybercrime cases from 2017 to 2018 and cyberstalking or bullying of women or children increased by 36% from 542 in 2017 to 739 in 2018, as per the India’s National Crime Records Bureau.
According to the 2016 estimates of the United Nations Children’s Fund, globally, one in three internet user is a child, while more recent data from India Internet Report 2019 suggests that two in three Indian internet users are between the ages of 12 and 29.
Ajay Kumar Sinha, an expert on Child Online Safety and well-being, says “90% of the time such morphing among teenagers are pranks but sometimes it takes an ugly turn and comes out in the open. And in the present case, there are sections of cyber-law which are also applicable to the platform – Instagram, which is supposed to restrict such content.”
Reflecting on the allegations, cyber law expert Pawan Duggal says: “In India, cyber law takes a very strong opinion on child-related pornography. The law considers anyone below the age of 18 a child. So, under Section 67B of the IT Act, publishing, transmitting, browsing or causing to be published or transmitted in the electronic form, any child pornography-related content is a serious offense, punishable with five years imprisonment and a 1,000,000 INR (approx. $13,200) fine. It is a non-bailable offense.”
The moment you create a private group, you are actually publishing electronic content subject to rules restricting child pornography, Duggal says.
Whether a complaint will be filed or allegations will be proven true remains to be determined, but it's cause for concern that young boys can engage in the normalisation of rape culture in society, the expert opined.
Sinha says it is very important to impart sex education and discuss the repercussions of cyber-bullying as part of the school curriculum. He emphasises the importance of understanding what a digital footprint is, and that anything that goes into the digital space once cannot be retrieved.
As per the social media regulations in India, a child below the age of 14 cannot have a social media account, but Sinha says it is common practice among young teens to make fake accounts, pretending to be 19. He added that there is no verification process and children commonly don’t know that anyone above 14 can have a social media account.