Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV)

Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV)

News: India’s Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) is being updated as the Digital India Bill.

What is TFGBV?
• Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV) refers to the use of technology, such as the internet, social media platforms, or mobile devices, to perpetrate acts of violence, harassment, stalking, coercion, or abuse against individuals based on gender or sexual identity.
• Existing social norms and the widening gender digital divide increase the vulnerability of groups already vulnerable to online violence.

What are issues with present legal framework?
• India’s present legal frameworks are not equipped to tackle internet-based harms.
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, were enacted to address physical harm, but they are also being applied in the online space.
• The Information Technology Act, 2000, was promulgated in the early days of the internet and as such unable to deal with the recent nature, forms and volume of online violence.
• None of these laws specifically addresses the issue of gender violence in tech space.
• The proposed Digital India Bill must incorporate safeguards against these types of crimes.