A STUDY OF BULLYING AND CYBERBULLYING AND THE LEGAL ANGLE

Abstract

This article consists of the phenomenon of Bullying which has been prevailing nowadays. Bullying can be explained as aggressive or abusive behaviour which may also involve any kind of threat, force or coercion to the person being bullied. Bullying can be executed by different ways i.e. it can be physically, mentally, emotionally etc. Its effects on people can differ from person to person depending upon their mental state, maturity level, support from family etc. Bullying on a severe level can make any person to even commit suicide as one may think it as the only alternative to get rid of such phenomenon permanently. With enhancements in technology, a new category of bullying has been found out i.e. cyberbullying which involves bullying over social media platforms, through messaging apps or by use of devices etc. It is important for the people around such children and adults who may become victim to cyberbullying to keep an eye over their usage of device and social media, as it can be a major reason for any kind of behavioural change in them, feeling of loneliness in them etc. With growing number of victims and cases of such phenomenon, it should be a subject to worry for the legislature to enact a separate and dedicated legislation for it. To safeguard the interests of victims of bullying and cyberbullying, it is necessary to apply specific provisions and penalise the people who bully others whether offline or online. But as at present, there is no dedicated legislation, provisions from existing laws need to be applied to prevent repetition of such happenings. Some of the existing laws from which provisions are extracted to protect the victims can be Information Technology Act, Indian Penal Code etc, can be based upon circumstances of the case. It is important for everyone to understand that bullying is not a practice that should be done to anyone because it can cause many negative consequences to the people being bullied. And it should be taken as a matter in legislature to build a separate dedicated legislation for bullying and cyberbullying in India to protect the interests of people and children who get bullied and also for the potential victims. It has been said rightly for such phenomenon- “Words scar, rumours destroy, and bullies kill.”