Sexual Harassment through the smartphone

 Police arrested some youth in Ballia because they had filmed a gang rape of minor girl & it had become viral.  This shows how insensitive we have become that we can film such acts instead of helping the victim .The fact ,that this act went viral shows something else ...a majority of us are indulging in sadism.We seem to take pleasure in watching others in pain. 

 

Smartphones are being increasingly used to film all such crimes & then they go viral as smartphones can easily transmit these video clips to various social media platforms like facebook, twitter, whatsapp .Moreover, the porn sites will pay for such video clips. 

 

Prajwala’s founder & anti trafficking crusader , Sunitha Krishnan ,is of the opinion that smartphones are used to film such acts because the perpetrators want to exhibit their acts or rather their crimes . In India, the woman has to bear the brunt of rapes & molestation, eve teasing etc. while  the perpetrators roam around looking for new victims. In our nation, the public believes that the girl or woman is herself responsible for having been raped or molested or eve teased. The man ( or men )   who did it did so because he ( they or )  was ( or were )  aided & abetted & encouraged by acts of commission & omission by the victims. In other words, the character assassination of the victim is is relentless while the perpetrators are projected as ideal persons. 

 

Sunitha Krishnan had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2014 as she had been tipped in this regard about smartphones being used to forward such videos thereby making them viral. The Supreme Court directed that CBI to  investigate these crimes. Sunitha Krishnan launched the #ShametheRapist Campaign.The trauma of the victims or survivors increases exponentially  as each such share through social media shames them, more & more. And they are silenced  . Moreover, justice takes a long time in India to reach fruition even after fast track courts have been established as Nirbhaya verdict came after seven long years of waiting. And that too ,because there was tremendous public pressure .

 

The shame is also one of the many reasons why many times , the victim is coerced & raped repeatedly .And many men join, turn by turn in raping the victims because once she has been raped, she can be raped again because she has been numbed by the video going viral. Because as Bishakha Datta ,executive director of Point of View ( non profit organisation that works for women & other genders )  opines  that the body of survivor is public property & so can be abused by many more in repeated ways. It is as if a lifetime of silence is imposed on the victims as opined by Sunitha Krishnan.And sometimes, the victims have to pay up.

 

And this transmission is so easy that sometimes a person may be bullied, coerced &  shamed by sharing photos & videos though these photos and videos are not in the public domain. Hence, the platforms wherein such videos were posted also need to be taken to task .

There were many such videos on sale in Uttar Pradesh in 2016 .And going by the spate of rapes being reported in many States , it does appear that more & more rapes are being filmed & circulated all over India.

 

The Supreme Court has formed a panel to stop such videos in the wake of Sunitha Krishnan’s petition in this regard. And the panel will have representatives of Google India, Yahoo India, Microsoft India s also Facebook as these platforms need to be held accountable for the content which gets posted on them.

Moreover ,cyber crime is not easily solvable in India because of obvious reasons.Firstly ,  the evidence may have been erased before the investigation begins. And police in India lack training regarding cyber crimes & even the equipment to trace the origins & the trail of the cyber crime is extremely difficult.

 

 In 2018 alone, 2000 cases of sexual harassment & 700 cases of online bullying have been reported. The good thing, is that this high number is because now ,people are aware of cyber crimes. Of course, there are umpteen cases which never get filed because the victims have been numbed by the said criminal acts going viral .Another plus point is that the Government in 2018, has launched a portal called the National Cyber Crime Reporting portal for recording complaints online. Police have been trained in digital crimes as also public has been made aware of cyber crimes. 

The public must delete such videos from their devices once they come across such content. The members of the public must be able to complain anonymously to the police about such videos getting viral as suggested by Sunitha Krishnan. 

 

Another aspect as pointed out by Bisakha Datta  is that the relevant sections of IT act needs to be invoked to nail the accused .Then only, will the perpetrators understand that cyber crimes pay back with exemplary punishment. And last but not the least , cyber crimes must be routed through fast track courts as technology upgrades faster than human actions, commissions  & omissions . 

Fire Hazards at Home.

Our society wherein ,I reside has installed brand new fire extinguishers & other fire safety equipment ( fire hydrants, etc ) in the twin towers.Towards , the weekend, a talk was organised for making residents aware about the dangers of fire .

Hardly anyone turned up to listen to the dangers of fire. We assured ourselves, that for an earlier talk , held on an evening, in the week that went by, more people had attended.Some couldn't care less. Some pretended to be busy as it was a Sunday. The lecturer who gave the talk quipped, that except money, nothing is more important .Even our own safety, does not seem to bother us.Only twenty - twenty five people attended. And nearly, all of them, were senior citizens. One senior citizen remarked, that youngsters should care more & should have attended. He said even if senior citizens know a thing or two about fire hazards & ways of dealing with it, many times because of advancing age, senior citizens may be helpless to do anything .Probably, just like elders have become baby sitters for their grandkids, they are expected, to be fire fighters for generation next even literally & otherwise !

Fire consists of three components...fuel, oxygen & heat.When these three things combine, a fire starts. And before anyone blinks, it can spread rapidly & result in disasters.

It was told ,that that there are three methods of extinguishing fires.The first is starvation.This means if the television has caught fire, just try to remove things near it which can catch fire next. The second method is blanketing .This makes use of an ordinary blanket such as a cotton bedsheet to cover the fire & try to bring it under control.At least, it can prevent fire from spreading. And third method is cooling which is usually done by water.

Fires are classified into five types. A category is solid or general fires. B is fires in which liquids are on fire. C is fires in which gases are involved. D category is for Industrial fires involving metals,etc. Last is  category E for  electrical fires.

It was emphasized that all electrical & electronic equipment need to te turned off by switching off the switches & not by remote.Maybe,this will make us get up & stretch our legs .And  lo & behold, we would have become fit as well ! A win win situation for all ! And the icing on the cake is that , this will bring down the power bill as well !

In Mumbai, most of the homes have piped gas for cooking. And yet, people have kept LPG clyinders as well, as a spare. LPG cylinder contains some amount of residual gas.It keeps expanding & contarcting as per the temperature prevalent. And one day , this gas may just catch fire ! One solution to prevent such dangers is to surrender the LPG cylinder .Maybe , we would receive letters from PMO thanking us for giving up LPG subsidy. Never mind, that we did so ,for our own safety. The idea or the thought of benefiting anyone & that too,someone unknown never ever crossed our selfish & self centred minds !

Attention was drawn to the fact that near, the air conditioners  installed at or near windows, curtains are generally hung.A single spark from an air conditioner is enough to start a fire which will spread rapidly through the curtains.Throwing lighted cigarettes, bidis ,etc into trash cans is another sure shot way of igniting fires. Throwing body spray containers , air fresheners   into the bins  is another such fire peril.A can of body spray or an air freshener has the same components as an LPG cylinder.And similar to the LPG clyinder, it is never empty.It always has residual compnents which are highly inflammable. Advisable to crush the cans  & then trash them.

The speaker asked all listeners to clear all things kept outside flats & on or near stairs..He said that in case, there is a fire, residents will panic & be unable to find their way through the things kept near the stairs He said that people living in towers are habituated to taking the lift which is fatal during fire accidents. So ,once in a while, it is good to take a flight of stairs up and also down to know the path we need to take in case of an  emergency .The added bonus is a fitter body.

The residents were requested to have a window type open & shut grill in one window of each flat.This will help in evacuation in case of fire or any other accident. All such small & necessary precautions will make the building a safe zone .It will prevent speedy evacuation as also less damages to life & property.

The residents were requested to take good care & maintenance of their electronic & electric equipment like geysers, ovens, televisions, refrigerators, washing machine etal to prevent untoward fires & accidents.

Demonstration of fire fighting equipment was done to make residents familiar with their use. And water hoses were sprayed to exhibit the height up to which the water spray would reach in case the water hose pipes needed to be used .And last but not the least, onlookers must clear the way to allow fire fighters to reach the place of fire for timely evacuation & containment of damage.