Among the victims of crimes committed through social media, more than 80 per cent are women.

Ajabi Poudyal: Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal

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In the fourth week of May, 2019, a 20-year-old woman was answering the questions of an investigating officer at the Metropolitan Police Circle Kathmandu with tears welling up in her eyes. Accompanying her along with her maternal aunt was the woman’s mother, who drank water sometimes and moved about restlessly at others. She looked visibly worried about her daughter’s future.

The story goes a year back. Ramila (name changed) of Balaju received a call on her mobile one day from an unknown young man. He was Tej Bahadur BK of Melamchi, Sindhupalchok. As calls became more frequent, she went on to chat with him for hours. Tej Bahadur, who said he was from Sindhuli at one time and Pokhara at another, started visiting her at her home. Her parents were elated when they saw happiness on the face of their daughter who had dropped out of eighth grade following a prolonged illness, who did not easily go out of home. When she got the support of her parents, she did not find it hard to go out with the man and bring him home.

As their relationship developed, Ramila’s parents pressured Tej Bahadur to let them meet his family and to marry their daughter. Tej Bahadur, who had not given them his address clearly and had lied his surname to them, took Ramila to his rented room in Jorpati, Kathmandu, secretly. Having lived with him for a few days, Ramila insisted that he take her to his family. When her parents invited her repeatedly to go back and acknowledge her move, Ramila returned to the village.

Tej, who had left saying that he would go to his village, reached India instead. He asked Ramila to visit him in India. When her parents refused to send her suspecting his behavior, Tej sent an embarrassing video to Ramila’s brother on his Messenger. What he had forwarded was a video of their sex and some naked pictures taken consensually. This behaviors of Tej devastated Ramila.

To her parents as well, this was an unimaginable incident. When their daughter attempted suicide, Ramila’s parents reported to police. Caught within a few days of the complaint, a case is going on against Tej under the Electronic Transactions Act at the Kathmandu District Court. He has been released on Rs 20,000 bail.

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Introduced to each other on Facebook, 22-year-old Asha (name changed) of Lamjung and Surya Bahadur Thapa of Bajhang fell in love. They got so close to each other through the virtual world that they planned to marry soon. When they talked for hours on Emo, Viber and Facebook Messenger, they even shared that they would be unable to live in separation.

One day, Surya Bahadur asked her to send him a naked photo showing her sexual organ. When Asha refused to do so, he questioned her love for him. “Since I loved him immensely, I sent him such picture believing that I’d marry him ultimately.”

Then one day Surya Bahadur asked her for Rs 50,000 saying that he was in a difficulty. When she said that she would be unable to send the money, he threatened to upload her naked picture on Facebook. “He started blackmailing me showing the picture. I was compelled to send him the money,” Asha said. He then started asking for money repeatedly, threatening to make the picture “viral”. When it got unbearable, Asha visited the Metropolitan Police Circle, Kathmandu on April 22, 2019. After the police caught him soon later, a case of crime and cheating has been filed against him under the Electronic Transactions Act.

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An incident happened on March 30, 2017 at the Nepal Police School in Ranibari, Samakhusi, of Kathmandu. A student from Tokha aged 14 was found dead. Police investigation found that he had killed himself by jumping off the school roof. An issue of sending obscene material by creating a fake Facebook account of one of his girlfriends was linked to the suicide.

In fact, this eighth grader had had a quarrel with his classmate girl one day. Angered by that, he created a fake Facebook ID in her name. He then sent obscene material to the girl’s father from the account.

Having seen the material from the ID in his daughter’s name, the father asked her about it. She clarified that one of her classmates could have done the mischief. When the girl’s guardians reached the school to take up the matter, Warden Sharmila Gurung warned the boy not to repeat it and to bring his mother along when he comes to school again. But the student did not go home, he committed suicide by jumping off the school’s hostel building. The minor dispute led to a Facebook issue and to suicide ultimately.

‘Asocial network’

These are but a few examples of how the social network sites are being used dangerously. Notably, most victims of the crimes committed through social sites are women. Social networks are becoming asocial and insecure for women. According to the Nepal Police data, 90 per cent victims of the crimes committed through social and other electronic media are women.

From children to adults to the elderly, women of all kinds have fallen victim to criminals. According to psychologist Karuna Kunwar, children, adolescents and even divorcee women are facing such problems. Teenage girls face the problem of obscene Photoshopped pictures and consensual images of physical relation made public on social media. Adult and old women are being defrauded and financially exploited through social networks.

Here is one such example. Active in the artistic field for 22 years, Bhima Mainali of Kavre runs programmes on radio and television. Having acted in teleserials such as Thorai Bhaye Pugisari and Jivanchakra, she ran the programme Younka Kura produced by Reflection Clarion Media on TV Today until a few months ago.

The programme had been popular, with thousands of viewers on its YouTube channel. After her contract with producer Ramkrishna Timalsena ended, she quit the show. Timalsena then started broadcasting the already released content by tailoring the clips of the earlier episodes with obscene images, videos and titles.

Such activity of Timalsena aimed at promoting his YouTube channel brought unimaginable trouble to Bhima. Her hard-earned career was being destroyed, conflict grew in her family. When her daughter’s friends told her that her mother was engaged in such indecent acts, the anchor’s 21-year-old daughter became a victim of depression.

“My daughter, who viewed me as a role model, now says ‘we would not have to face this infamy if we ran a Nanglo [winnow] shop. My 16-year-old son is also in a similar mental state,” Bhima said at the Metropolitan Police Circle in Kathmandu. “I have to hear bad talk everywhere—at vegetable shop or hospital. My friends take swipes at me saying I did such things for the sake of money. I can’t visit my relatives.”

Timalsena has been released from police custody with Rs 25,000 bail from the Kathmandu District Court. “No matter what punishment he gets, who will pay for the torture I lived with and my social disrepute?” Bhima asked.

This case is from Palpa. Tara (name changed), a local resident, got acquainted with Nanda Lamichhane of Pokhara. Tara, who had a troubled marital relationship, got easily along through chatting with Lamichhane on Viber and Emo. Having completed her Master’s education, Tara wished to settle in a favourable foreign country. When Lamichhane got a hint of that, he told her that he was in Canada and promised to help her. He then asked her to get an experience certificate of have served as a waiter. Next he asked her to learn the English language. Tara duly followed what he demanded. She also sent him scanned copies of her passport and academic certificates.

Lamichhane sent her fake documents showing that he had applied to a reputed hotel in Canada to find her a waiter job. Tara easily believed him. After some months, Nanda asked her for Rs 400,000 saying that he needed to pay the amount to the embassy. Tara sent him Rs 300,000 that she had borrowed even without letting her husband know about it.

She lost contact with Lamichhane after posting the money to him. When she inquired about it at his home in Pokhara, she came to know that Lamichhane had cheated many people. He was not in Canada, he had been hiding in India. Tara has filed a case with police.

Facebook has also devastated Anita (name changed) of Lamahi, Dang. When she trusted a man she came to know on Facebook, she eventually lost Rs 4 million. This failed deal caused her to lose her job, career and home. When the money she borrowed was pocketed by a stranger, she has been living in hiding.

It all began two years ago. Dinesh Basnet of Kathmandu, whom Anita met on the social networking site, talked to her in the name of a British citizen, Aan Smith. He lured Anita, who taught at a school in Lamahi, with the promise of a visit to the United Kingdom. As she easily believed him, Anita kept sending him the money he asked for.

Anita realized that she had been duped only when her cumulative loans and interests crossed Rs 4 million. After failing to repay the loan, she not only quit her job but also left home to live ‘underground’. Based on a complaint registered by Anita, a case is sub judice in Kathmandu District Court against six individuals on the charge of fraud through electronic transaction.

A woman from a Musahar settlement in Dhanusha is another victim of social media abuse. A man posted her Photoshopped picture on Facebook. She had depression due to the act of the offender. She did not get the support even of her husband who worked in a foreign country and family members. Having lost self esteem, she had stopped talking even with neighbours. A non-government organization working for women helped her by training her on regaining self esteem. Since the perpetrator was a neighbouring young man related to her, she was unable to file a case against him. The episode ended when the man confessed his offence in front of the family and community.

Cyber crime cases: Threefold in three years

Lately in Nepal, there has been a rise in the number of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Viber and Emo, among others) users. Women users of the platforms make a big chunk of the pie. According to the Media Survey 2019 conducted by Sharecast Initiative, regular users of internet in Nepal account for 33 per cent of the population. Among the 30 per cent of the total Nepali women connected to the internet, 82 per cent Facebook users. The next application most widely used is Facebook’s Messenger, which is used by 45 per cent women having access to the internet.

Social networks have been effective tools for communicating with relatives living abroad. But their misuse is worrisome. Misuse of social media is increasingly linked to cases of fraud, blackmailing, suicide and murder. Women are directly affected by such crimes.

According to data from the Kathmandu District Attorney’s Office, it registered 118 cases related to the Electronic Transactions Act between July 2018 and May 2019. Among the cases, 108 victims are women. In the cases, while the number of men charged with offence is 130, that figure for women is 7. “Among the victims of social media misuse, 85 to 90 per cent are women,” said Assistant District Attorney Thakur Prasad Bastakoti.

Complaints filed with the police show a terrifying situation in this data. Husbands and women’s supposed close friends make most of the perpetrators. According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Circle Kathmandu, males involved in family disputes, men separated from women, youngsters having troubled romantic relationships and mentally troubled persons appeared ahead of others in misusing social media. While people of all ages appeared to have this tendency, those in the age group 20 to 40 years were mostly seen to have committed the offence.

Kathmandu District Court is the only court in the country that takes up cases of cyber crime. The Metropolitan Police Circle Kathmandu and the Metropolitan Crime Division basically investigate the cyber crimes committed across the country while the police departments register court cases through the Kathmandu District Attorney’s Office. According to the Kathmandu Police Circle, while the number of cyber crime cases was 34 in the fiscal year 2015-16, the number jumped threefold in the following three years. According to a police official involved in investigation, the problem is rampant in the society but very few cases reach police for several reasons.

What are the causes of growing cyber crimes, particularly the misuse of social media and women falling victim to them? Psychologist Kunwar blames the tendency in men that women will tolerate any excesses for the situation. She says that women are not in a condition to share about the crimes that have been committed to them, let alone report them.

Writer and rights activist Archana Thapa chiefly holds the poor upbringing of women and their categorization as a weak class for the situation. “Due to this, women get into the trap of people with ill motives,” Thapa says.

According to Assistant District Attorney Bastakoti, women separated from their husbands, former lovers or men with troubled relationship often get violent against women. Women in general face problems like their partners making public through social media consensual videos of their physical relation after break-up, posting obscene pictures through fake Facebook accounts and tagging them and using social media in other ways to assassinate a woman’s character.

It is not true that only immature men engage in such activities. For instance, a 62-year-old retired DSP of Nepal Police was nabbed for sending to his ex-wife naked pictures, and abusing her, on social media. A man who had married a second woman without divorcing his first wife had also used the trick to force his first wife to accept divorce. He had lured the woman into sending him her naked picture and posted it on social media.

Since criminals always target the weak in society, women are easy prey for their inability to immediately react fearing disrepute, Advocate Baburam Dahal argues. This situation is leading to serious crimes every day.

Keshav Sharan Adhikari of Jhapa had returned home after a long stay abroad. Arranged by his relatives, he married a local woman. But a couple of months after marriage he started disliking her. While he looked for ways to get rid of her, the woman visited the fortune teller Kumar Khanal and asked how she could win her husband’s love. Khanal was one of her Facebook friends.

Keshav used this link to divorce his wife. Misusing his wife’s Facebook account, he invited Kumar for sexual relation with her. The fortune teller fell in the trap; he visited their house on the said time anticipating a chance. At the same time, Keshav gathered relatives to encircle the house. After revelation that Keshav plotted this, the dispute reached police. While Keshav has been caught in the cyber crime offence, a case of attempted rape is sub judice in the Jhapa District Court against Keshav Khanal.

Advocate Dahal warns women against criminals who misuse platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Viber and Emo to attack them. If women are not careful about filming their own intimate relationships, sending nude pictures under influence, and doing financial transactions with social network acquaintances, they can get into trouble again, he says.

Since the applications like Facebook and YouTube are operated by foreign companies, they can’t be controlled as soon as incidents happen through them. According to DSP Hobindra Bogati, spokesperson for the Metroplitan Police Range, Kathmandu, police are reaching out to schools, organizations and mothers’ groups under community-police partnership to raise public awareness and to inform people about possible misuses of social media.

Even if it was drafted for other purposes, the Electronic Transactions Act-2008 is in effect to curb cyber crimes. Under this law, an offender may be jailed for up to five years or fined up to Rs 100,000. In order to address the crimes committed through social networks and offences related to the information technology, the federal parliament is discussing the IT Bill.

“Legal remedies are sought when there are problems,” psychologist Karuna Kunwar says. “Women too should think it seriously before recording sexual activities and taking pictures of embarrassing moments even if it is with their husband, lover or trusted friends. This not only causes huge losses, but also potentially damages life.”