"I would use this occasion to salute the victim."
Justice for revenge porn is a major challenge for victims. The notion of having explicit images or nude videos publically available without the consent of the individual destroys lives.
This has now changed in India with the first case of its kind receiving justice for the victim of revenge porn.
A 23-year-old Indian man has been jailed for five years, after he uploaded a nude video of his ex-girlfriend, aged 20, on various pornographic websites.
Animesh Bakshi, from West Bengal, had a close relationship with the young girl and during their time together, she had taken a number of nude videos on her mobile phone and shared them with him bonded by the trust of their relationship.
However, Bakshi took advantage of the intimate connection and abused the relationship. He hacked into her phone and got hold of the nude videos, before blackmailing the victim.
Following this, the victim immediately ended the relationship.
The anger of the breakup initiated Bakshi to upload her videos onto pornographic websites, in May 2017, adding the name of the girl, her father, and even the father’s nickname.
Much to the girl’s embarrassment, her older brother came across the nude videos in July 2017, as they circulated on the internet. Bringing them to her attention.
A CID officer involved with the case said:
“The girl was devastated and decided to end her life. However, later she gathered courage and reached Panskura police station with her father to lodge a complaint.”
On July 21st, 2017, the man was arrested by the Bengal Crime Investigation Department (CID) and taken to court in Bengal’s East Midnapore district.
The trial of this revenge porn case against Bakshi began in September 2017.
During court case against Bakshi, 200 document exhibits, and 79 material exhibits were presented, as well as a 118-page written argument, that mentioned more than 300 judgements and precedents from supreme courts and courts abroad.
The case was concluded by February 28th, 2018, when Bakshi was convicted of ‘revenge porn’ and fined 9,000 Rs (£100).
Special public prosecutor for CID, Bivas Chatterjee said:
“I would use this occasion to salute the victim. It needed a lot of courage to withstand two days of vigorous cross-examination in the court that she faced. I devoted most of my time over the past six months for this one case, because she deserved justice in time.”
“What she suffered is virtual rape and she continues to suffer this. Several of the video clips are still live on porn sites”
It was reported by the Hindustan Times that this was, in fact, Bengal CID’S first cyber-crime related case and the first conviction in India related to revenge porn.
In India, incidents such as revenge porn are increasing as technology makes it easier and quicker to share personal files.
This case is possibly one in thousands when it comes activities like revenge porn in a country like India, where many cases are not being reported by victims due to fear and shame.
Sadly, there are more vile and explicit scenarios of revenge porn too in India.
For example, in Uttar Pradesh, a team of journalists from The Times of India discovered the horrifying business of rape videos. The video clips of 30 seconds to five minutes long being sold for about £1.
In 2017, there was the case of a 22-year-old Delhi University student who took her own life after becoming a victim of revenge porn, when her ex-boyfriend shared explicit images of her on porn websites.
Now that India has jailed a man for sharing personal nude videos online without the consent of another person, this may encourage victims of cyber-bullying and revenge porn to come forward.
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