For Doxxing Victims In India, A Patchwork Of Laws To Navigate, Pg13

Key Highlights:

• Women participating in protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar have been subjected to doxxing, with their personal details shared online.
• This online sharing has led to real-world harassment, including rape and death threats.
• Doxxing is not explicitly defined or criminalized under Indian law, requiring victims to navigate a patchwork of existing statutes.
• Legal recourse involves provisions from the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act.
• Social media platforms are held accountable under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

Detailed Insights:

• Doxxing involves publicly revealing private personal information to intimidate or shame an individual.
• The legal approach distinguishes between the dissemination of personal information and subsequent threats or harassment.
• Section 78 of the BNS addresses stalking if doxxing leads to monitoring or repeated contact.
• Section 351 of the BNS covers criminal intimidation, applicable for rape and death threats.
• For minors, Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) can be invoked.
• Section 79 of the BNS punishes acts intended to insult a woman's modesty or intrude upon her privacy, if humiliating pictures are published.
• Section 66E of the IT Act criminalizes capturing or publishing images of private body parts without consent.
• Section 72A of the IT Act penalizes unauthorized disclosure of general personal data, primarily with a financial penalty up to Rs 5 lakh, treating it as a civil wrong.
• The IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 obligate platforms to prevent hosting content invasive of privacy or harassing based on gender.
• Platforms must acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within seven days, or 36 hours for severe cases like privacy invasions.
• Non-compliance by platforms can lead to the loss of their "safe harbour" protection, removing legal immunity for user-posted content.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Doxxing: The act of publicly revealing private personal information about an individual, often with malicious intent.
• Safe Harbour Protection: A legal provision that shields online platforms from liability for content posted by their users.
• Intermediary Guidelines: Rules and regulations that govern the responsibilities and obligations of online intermediaries regarding user-generated content.