Women prone to hatred on social media

It has not been hidden, how trollers find one or the other way to get on the nerves of the celebrities. One such instance of trolling was during an episode of Koffee with Karan, when Karan Johar invited the stars of student of the year; Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra over to his show for a special episode.

Alia Bhatt was tagged as 'Dumb' after she replied to one of KJO's rapid fire question where he asked the President of India and she replied 'Prithviraj Chauhan'. Her answer flooded the social media with countless memes, jokes and trolls.

This is not the first time that trollers flooded their negativity to not only the celebrities but the local women as well. Rupesh Mittal, the founder of Cyber Jagriti and Safety Foundation, Hyderabad shares how the social media platforms have actually turned into a platform of hate speech more than a platform of interaction with new people.

Rupesh shares, "In Internet slang, a troll is a person who intentionally upsets people on the Internet, not only people organizations like corporates and the government is also trolled. Trolling can have good and bad intentions. Trolling is majorly used for fun and entertainment purposes but it can harm a person or organization if done negatively."

According to him, the individual's mood, and the surrounding context of a discussion and to make viral content are the major reasons for trolling. As online discussions become increasingly part of our daily interactions, antisocial behavior such as trolling, harassment, and bullying is a growing concern. Not only does antisocial behavior result in significant emotional distress, but it can also lead to offline harassment and threats of violence.

"As per the statistics by Cyber Jagrithi and Safety foundation, unfortunately the maximum ration of people trolled or bullied especially on social media were women. Most people troll others for either revenge, for attention seeking, for boredom, and for personal amusement and also social media following these days. We receive more complaints from Women victims; there are also few reasons for it.

While few hesitate to approach the police due to privacy reasons, few aren't aware of what to do but seek for any kind of solution. A Male victim complaint is less as he might not give much importance to it unless it very severe troll or bully and they are not hesitant to approach family members for help mostly, whereas a girl doesn't want the family to know about it due to fear of parents reaction," adds Rupesh.

Is trolling and cyber bullying same?

Trolling may not be cyber bullying but a troll can become a bully with the negativity in it. If it is a Cyber bully then the person creating or spreading it is punishable.

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 ("IPC"), neither defines bullying nor punishes it as an offense. However, various provisions of the IPC and the Information Technology Act, 2000 ("IT Act") can be used to fight cyber bullies. If anyone is facing or victim of a bully, they contact at https://www.cyberjagrithi.com or 9133266399

Cyber Jagrithi and Safety Foundation

Cyber Jagrithi started as an awareness program in Nov 2019 and with the huge support of volunteers, it formed into a Non-profit organization under Section-8, registered with Govt. of India in May 2020 with Rupesh Mittal and Pooja Singh as founder and co-founder of the organization.

They are gazing at the way technology is taking over the world. No wonder, it has become a part of our lives and we are depending on technology evolutions more than before.

Just like any other invention, this too comes with advantages and disadvantages. Acquiring cyber knowledge is the only key to prevent any such side effects. They work on ground levels to bring awareness about Cybercrimes and safety by collaborating with various institutions.

Sharing about the organization, Rupesh shares, "Our purpose is to empower students, families, communities, and society with prevention and intervention skills to reduce cyber-crime. We have designed "Awareness programs and workshops" to enhance cyber security. Team Cyber Jagrithi focuses on women's and children's safety. We have worked with Different City Police for the betterment of cyber security and bringing awareness of new-age cybercrimes."

The founders Rupesh Mittal is an Udemy Instructor, graduate in Computer Science and pursuing PgD in Cyber Laws at NALSAR Hyderabad. He has more than 20 thousand students enrolled in his Cyber Security Awareness Course on Udemy.

He has been training Law Enforcement officers, Students, and Faculty of various colleges on Crime Investigation and Cyber Security and Safety respectively. He is one of the 15 change makers who are supported by Pravah and mentored by Rubaroo under 'Change looms Learning & Leadership Journey Programme'. He has been awarded the 'Karmaveer Chakra Award Instituted by iCONGO' in partnership with United Nations in 2019 for this social service at Cyber Jagrithi.

Pooja Singh is a final-year graduate student in Computer Science and Cyber Safety Evangelist. She is one of the Top 20 women all over India who are selected for "Shakti- the empathy project, incubation program for women.