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Online harassment, a challenge for women

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Online harassment, a challenge for women. Karan Goenka and Susanne Mehta are both second year MBA students from the Narsee Monjee College, Tarnaka.

Karan Goenka and Susanne Mehta are both second year MBA students from the Narsee Monjee College, Tarnaka. As classmates, it’s obvious that they would be friends on Facebook as well. Both of them shared common interests. But Sussane did not realise that Karan was trying to get close to her. He tried taking her photos in the college. Once Karan started following Susanne from the MG Road. He passed lewd comments and made rude gestures right through the ride to her home. She said that the security along the route was abysmal. Failing to take her photos, Karan made a caricature of Susanne and put it up on Facebook and made lewd remarks.

Susanne informed this to her parents, the college management and the police. Her parents were worried and made several calls to police officers and the college management. When the police got in touch with Karan Goenka, he clearly denied doing any of this. Later, when a social worker reached him, Karan stated that it was not this Susanne Mehta but was some other girl .He also stated that the tag made on Facebook was made by some other friend, who got confused with this girl’s name. He claimed that he was not a friend with Susanne on Facebook. This confused everyone. The police had its hand tied.

Umamaheshwar, SI, cyber crime, said, “We need a written complaint. Then a proof. We take almost 45 days to prove that the IPE is the same. Till then, we cannot do anything to the boy. We cannot come to a conclusion, unless the IPE is matched.”

Later on, with the help of the police, the link was removed. But for Susanne, it’s still a nightmare to step into the college as she fears that the boy might try such a nasty move once again using a fake Facebook account. He has been abusing her physically, trying to click her photos, but denies any such activity when interrogated by the police or the college administration.

“If someone is constantly threatening you, attempting to make sexual advances, or refusing to leave you alone, think carefully about how best to protect yourself. The first step is usually to tell the person to stop and take measures to break off all contact. If the harassment doesn't let up, having the phone company screen your calls and involving the police are all approaches you can take. In extreme circumstances, you might need to file a restraining order to keep your harasser away,” said Sarvabhooma Rao, senior advocate, High Court.

The internet is frequently talked about in juxtaposition to the “real” world, as if most of our lives aren’t already an intertwinement of the online and offline.