Cyberbullying and Preventive Measures: Bangladesh in Context

Arifa Afroz Smriti1

Nazmun Nahar2

Abstract

Modern technological inventions are always blessings towards

mankind. But it may turn into hassle by unfair use of technology.
Recently worldwide rampant use of internet accelerates to emerge
various kinds of misdeeds and bullying is one of them. In traditional
bullying approach one may hesitate to do so for fear of humility and
punishments, contrarily online bullying or cyberbullying has become
a reluctant practice to harass any individual. The objective of this
paper is to analyse into an empirical research approach about the
reasons and consequences of cyberbullying. The study has a
comprehensive perspective about the bitter impact of cyberbullying
and provides a bird‘s eye view about the legal mechanism of
Bangladesh to eradicate such mishap. Cyberbullying as a faceless
evil in virtual space has the greater possibility of threats, alarm,
distress, slander and physical danger that go hand in hand with real
world bullying. The authors of this article try to explore available
legal approach in the context of Bangladesh. It is arguable that a
number of statutes may be of assistance in relation to cyberbullying.
However, due to the lack of clear definition of cyberbullying, the
applicability of these laws is an open debate. This paper recommends
initiating a separate procedural law to resolve such kind of
technological misdemeanour and to make cyber world a better place
of security.

Keywords: Cyberbullying, Cyber Crime, Harassment, Social

Networking Sites, Cyberspace.

1. Introduction

In present decades it is rarely possible to find out any person without having a
Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or WhatsApp account. Only a single finger-
tip is quite enough to maintain social communication throughout the world by
variety of technologies. Innovation of latest devices, apps, software programs
have added new dimension to our communication system. That‘s why

1
The author is currently working as a Lecturer in Department of Law at Primeasia University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh. She completed her LL.B (Hon‘s) & LL.M degree from the University of
Rajshahi, Bangladesh. She can be reached at [email protected]
2
The author has completed her LL.B (Hon‘s) from the School of law, BRAC University, Dhaka,
Bangladesh. She is currently working as an apprentice lawyer at the Dhaka Judge Court,
Bangladesh. She has research interest in criminal law, genocide and financial crimes. She can be
reached at [email protected]
124 BiLD Law Journal 4(1)

miscreants take advantage of bullying via virtual world to accomplish their

wicked intension. Social networking has taken bullying to an extreme level of
agitation. Cyber space has become the perfect place to reach out anonymously
to just about anybody, at any time and any place.3 Any person can be bullied
even within the safe premises of his dwelling place. Inexpensive and easy
access to internet with the possible anonymity is being used as a tool to bully
others. Lay person to celebrity, almost everyone is being targeted in
cyberspace. A culinary artist faced backlash in cyberspace, and often time
mobbed for her experiment in cooking. It went to the extent that she addressed
it in several interview by the local newspapers.4 Even the politicians find
themselves in the courtyard of the bullies. Often time, it is seen that memes
are created of the pictures or update posted in the official pages of the
politicians. Recently, pictures of graduation party of a high school graduate
went viral and pilloried for holding such party.5 Though, the high school
graduate did not have any celebrity image.

In this paper, the authors therefore, travel over the existing laws and the
challenges that exist to establishing cyberbullying legislation in the context of
the Bangladesh. The paper is focused upon qualitative and descriptive study
on the basis of secondary information like national & international journals,
research reports, news reports, different websites, existing national legislations
etc.

2. Characteristics of Bullies and their Behaviour

2.1 Definition

Cyberbullying is comparatively a new idea. With a gap in research

publication, there is also no international legal instrument defined the term
‗cyberbullying‘. It is not defined under the existing laws of Bangladesh as
well. Definition of cyberbullying by the researchers from psychological
school of thought is actually an extension of traditional or offline bullying.
Researchers from the late twentieth century defined the term ‗bullying‘ in
institutional settings. According to Professor Dan Olweus,6 bullying is an
intentional aggressive behaviour carried out by an individual or a group

3
Dr Olivia, ‗Bullying Essay‘ (Essay Lab.Com, 13 February 2017) <https://essay
lab.com/blog/cyberbullying> accessed 28 December 2018.
4
Hasan Dabir Uddin, Interview with Keka Ferdousi, ‗Cooking is not easy‘, Dhaka Tribune,
(Dhaka, 17 October 2016) <https://www.dhakatribune.com/showtime/2016/10/17/keka-ferdousi-
cooking-not-easy> accessed 13 January 2019.
5
This incident was not reported in any daily and there is also no news if the victim has filed any
complaint.
6
Dan Olweus is a professor of Psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is well noted
for his research on problems of bullying and victimization.
Cyberbullying and Preventive Measures 125

repeatedly and overtime against a victim.7 The victim, in such case, finds it
difficult to defend themselves.8 They also claimed that bullying is based on an
imbalance of power and can be defined as a systematic abuse of power.9
Extending the earlier research on offline or traditional bullying, an attempt has
been made to define the term ‗cyberbullying‘ over the past decade.10 It is
defined as an aggressive act or behaviour that is carried out using electronic
means11 by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim
who cannot easily defend him or herself.12 It takes place by using digital
devices like cell phones, computers, tablets where people can view, participate
or share their content. In short, cyberbullying refers primarily to covert actions
such as teasing, exclusion, social rejection, and spreading rumours. It includes
some sort of false documents, mean contents, sexual remarks or private
information to embarrass someone in front of others in virtual arena. It can
also include sharing private information about someone else.13 Sometimes
virtual bullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behaviour. Scholars
argue that the application of the three aspects of the traditional bullying,
namely intentionality, repetition, and an imbalance of power, would be
difficult in case of cyberbullying.14

2.2 Characteristics and Behaviour of Bullies and Reason for such

Behaviour

Cyberbullying has a better grasp of reasons behind it. In general sense bullies
are considered as jealous, unhappy or just unkind people.15 Shawn Edgington,
a paediatrics opined that bullies is easily angered; is obsessed with violent
games, TV or literature; has parents who enable behaviour by either inaction
or encouragement; has no remorse for his or her actions; blames others; has
deep depression with extreme mood swings; has high frustration levels and
poor coping skills; abuses drugs, alcohol and other substances; is disrespectful

7
Please note that this definition by Professor Olweus was given in the context of educational
institution. At that time, it was a surfaced concern in education institutions around the world,
especially North America and Europe; See Dan Olweus, ‗Bully/victim problems in school: Facts
and intervention‘ (1997) 12 (XII) European Journal of Psychology of Education 495, 496.
8
Peter K. Smith and Katerina Ananiadou, ‗The Nature of School Bullying and the Effectiveness of
School-Based Interventions‘ (2003) 5(2) Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 189.
9
Shelley Hymel and Susan M. Swearer, ‗Four Decades of Research on School Bullying‘ (2015)
70(4) American Psychologist 293.
10
Peter K. Smith, ‗School Bullying‘ (2013) 71 Sociologia, Problemas E Práticas 81, 82-83.
11
Here the electronic means do not only limit to the devices that has access to internet.
12
Robert Slonje and Peter K. Smith, ‗Cyberbullying: Another main type of bullying?‘ (2008) 49
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 147.
13
United States government, ‗What Is Cyberbullying‘ (stopbullying.gov)
<https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/index.html> accessed 13 January 2019.
14
ibid
15
Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, ‗What really causes cyberbullying?‘ (17 October 2018)
<https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/life/what-really-causes-cyberbullying/article_9ff3c3ed-
b55c-5b89-9e04-a8c8dcbb9137.html> accessed 21 January 2019.
126 BiLD Law Journal 4(1)

to others, humiliates and sets traps to embarrass; glorifies violence and

intimidates others; has been personally abused or has witnessed abuse in the
home.16 Competition for status and esteem may often be a reason behind peer
cyberbullying. Young people take revenge of getting hurt after their breakups
via cyberbullying. Girls are more likely to be both perpetrators and victims of
cyberbullying than boys.

A number of ways are being followed by the bullies namely spreading their
personal pictures or videos, in most cases this are edited from the real version
to make obscene in order to belittle them, or by posting rude status or
comments on someone‘s picture or posts, in a word there are many elements
by which one can intentionally degrade anyone. Surprisingly a new trend has
emerged among teens to use slangs, harsh language or troll any person on
social websites. They take it very casually to make fun of others by bulling on
virtual world. Even adults are getting engaged day by day with such kind of
bullying practices. Very rarely the victims seek strong legal mechanism to
resolve their situation though it has become a common phenomenon.

2.3 Forms of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is more forwarded version than traditional bullying system. It

can happen in a variety of ways. According to Willard (2006), ‗there are
different forms of cyberbullying. These forms include flaming, harassment,
denigration, impersonation, outing, trickery, exclusion, cyber stalking, and
cyber threats‘.17 Various forms of cyberbullying are discussed below:

 Harassment: Harassment involves the bully sending offensive and

threatening notes through instant messaging or any other forms of
communication to the victim.18It may include licking the personal
messages or personal information of the victims.

 Denigration: Denigration is such type of endeavour to outspread

unfounded gossip or rumours to ruin victim‘s reputation. In some cases

16
Shawn Edgington, ‗What are the characteristics of a typical cyberbully?‘ Sharecare
<https://www.sharecare.com/health/teen-perspective-bullying/what-characteristics-of-typical-
cyberbully> accessed 2 January 2019.
17
Nancy Willard, ‗Cyberbullying Legislation and School Policies: Where are the Boundaries of the
―Schoolhouse Gate‖ in the New Virtual World?‘ (2007) Center for Safe and Responsible use of
the Internet <http://www.embracecivility.org/wp-content/uploadsnew/2012/10/cblegislation.
pdf> accessed 2 January 2019.
18
Swity Sultana Monni and Alma Sultana, ‗Investigating Cyber Bullying: Pervasiveness, Causes
and Socio-Psychological Impact on Adolescent Girls‘ (2016) 6(4) Journal of Public
Administration and Governance <http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jpag/article/
view/10132> accessed 2 January 2019.
Cyberbullying and Preventive Measures 127

blogs, online polls, discussion groups etc. may even be set up by the bully
to expose altered or crazy content that ridicules or humiliates the bullied.19

 Masquerading: Masquerading is a disguise form of cyberbullying where

the bully pretends to be someone else who they are exactly not. Here the
bully can create fake e-mail addresses or instant messaging or might use
someone else cell number to harass the bullied.

 Flaming: Flaming refers to hostile online interaction via emails, instant

messaging or chat rooms. It is also known as bashing. It is a type of public
bullying that often directs harsh languages, or images to a specific person.
Flaming is most commonly seen on YouTube where users reluctantly pass
comments over any videos.

 Exclusion: This includes make someone intentionally leaving out from a

specific group and then spread unfavourable comments about the leaving
person.20 Though such kind of activity may not have a direct impact on
victims but can develop something worse. Often members of various
online groups use this method of isolation to taunt a person.

 Outing: Outing is an act of sharing or publishing private information

online. Here a bully can spread on someone‘s personal images, messages,
information or videos in public sites from a revengeful intention.

 Cyber stalking: Cyber stalking is the most harmful and malpractice form
of bullying where anyone can stalk or harass an individual, group or
organization without being detected.21 It may include sending e-mails,
instant or text messages, social posts, creating websites for the sole
purpose of tormenting the victim.22 Stalkers figure out their targets by
using search engines, online forums, bulletin, discussion boards, chat
rooms and through online communities like as Twitter, Facebook, Google
Plus etc.

 Trolling: Trolling is a deliberate act of provocation to online content

which initiates to pass over comments in a disgraceful nature. Cyber
trolling has become popular fashion on social networking sites to
bombard people with insulting, threatening language.

19
Cyber Bullying, ‗Cyber Bullying and Its Consequences‘ <https://www.help123.sg>cyber-
bullying> accessed 13 January 2019.
20
Cyber Bullying, ‗How to Deal with Cyber Bullies‘ <https://www.help123.sg>cyber-bullying>
accessed 13 January 2019.
21
ibid (n 14).
22
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bully.
128 BiLD Law Journal 4(1)

2.4 Effects and Consequences of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is considered as trickier, unpredictable, uncertain annoyance

rather than any other form of nuisance. Its impact is more terrible when it is
often done in secret with the bully hiding who they are by creating fake
profiles or names or sending anonymous messages. As contents or messages
are shared online, it can be recorded and saved in different places of websites.
Even making fun of a particular person by silly trolling defames one‘s
goodwill. It‘s been a new trend in our society to disgrace any person, either
intentionally or unintentionally through online bullying. Various incidents
have been taken place worldwide in this regard. Victims get themselves
indulged with depression, low self-esteem, and loneliness, vengeful because
of cyberbullying. The worse effect of such kind of public embarrassment often
leads to suicidal attempts. Victims choose the path, suicide, to get relief from
such humiliation. It tends to utmost psychological hazard to the victim;
sometimes they may involve themselves in alcohols or drug addiction.
According to the survey report of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), 16% of high school students are effected by cyberbullying.23

3. Cyberbullying around the World

Cyberbullying is the consequence of the new and fast-paced growth of cyber

technology over the last decade. In USA, the concern over cyberbullying
raised upon the suicide incident of Megan Meier, a 13 years old girl.24 The
fact of the leading case25 is that her neighbour Lori Drew, mother of a former
friend of Meier, created a fake or hoaxed account in a social media sites
namely MySpace. Posing as a fictitious 16-year-old boy, Josh flirted with
Meier and extracted intimate details of her life. Later on, the sweet Josh turned
mean on her and abruptly ended their friendship. One of his final comments
wrote ‗The world would be a better place without you.‘ After this incident
Meier family found her hanged herself to death from a belt. Initially no charge
was filed against Mrs Drew claiming that her conduct may be immature and
rude but not illegal.26 Afterwards, Mrs Drew was charged for computer
fraud.27 This case is considered the first case of cyberbullying in USA.

23
https://www.psycom.net/effects-of-bullying> accessed 30 January 2019.
24
Christopher Maag, ‗A Hoax Turned Fatal Draws Anger but No Charges‘ The New York Times
(New York, 28 November 2007) <https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/us/28hoax.html>
accessed 31 January 2019.
25
U.S. v Drew, 259 F.R.D. 449 (C.D. Cal. 2009).
26
Dardenne Prairie, ‗Parents say fake online 'friend' led to girl's suicide‘ CNN (Missouri, 17
November 2007) <https://web.archive.org/web/20071118052137/http://www.cnn.com/2007/
US/11/17/internet.suicide.ap/index.html> accessed 31 January 2019.
27
Jennifer Steinhauer, ‗Verdict in MySpace Suicide Case‘ The New York Times (US, 26 November
2008) <https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/us/27myspace.html> accessed 31 January 2019.
Cyberbullying and Preventive Measures 129

Followed by Meier case, series of cases were filed in US.28 It is reported that,
in USA, more than one out of every five students report being bullied
according to the National Center for Educational Statistics report of 2016.29

In UK, Keeley Houghton is considered to be the first person to be jailed on

cyberbullying case. Ms Keeley, an 18-year-old girl, was bullying her former
classmate, Emily Moore, for four years.30 She threatened Ms Moore ‗Keeley
is going to murder the bitch. She is an actress. What a ******* liberty. Emily
****head Moore‘, leading the case.

With high rate of internet accessibility Australia has ranked as worst place for
cyberbullying in recent decades.31 In India, cyberbullying was first time dealt
in a land mark case of Vishaka v State of Rajasthan.32 Indian children are
considered the third highest online bullying victim after China and Singapore
in a report conducted by Microsoft Corporation.33

4. Cyberbullying in Bangladesh

4.1 Background

The election manifesto ‗Vision 2021‘ of the current ruling party of

Bangladesh with the promise of a ‗digital Bangladesh‘ made it possible to
have inexpensive and easy access to technology and internet.34Without
balance and check, it also paved way to commit crimes over cyber space and
posing a challenge to the criminal justice system. In Bangladesh, there is a
lack of research and published article on cyberbullying. Like most of the
countries, it is comparatively a new challenge for the criminal justice system

28
Kalhan Rosenblatt, ‗Cyberbullying Tragedy: New Jersey Family to Sue After 12-Year-Old
Daughter's Suicide‘ NBC News (US, 1 August 2017) <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-
news/new-jersey-family-sue-school-district-after-12-year-old-n788506> accessed 31 January
2019; CBN News, ‗Cyberbullying pushed Texas teen to commit suicide, family says‘ (TEXAS
CITY, 7 February 2017) <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cyberbullying-pushed-texas-teen-
commit-suicide-family/> accessed 31 January 2019.
29
National Bullying Prevention Center, Bullying statistics, Pacer.org
<https://www.pacer.org>resources>stats> accessed 2 January 2019.
30
Luke Salkeld, ‗Facebook bully jailed: Death threat girl, 18, is first person put behind bars for
vicious internet campaign‘ The Daily Mail (UK, 21 August 2009)
<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208147/First-cyberbully-jailed-Facebook-death-
threats.html> accessed 31 January 2019.
31
Zawn Villines, ‗Cyber-bullying: A Global trend‘ (2014) IDG Connect
<https://www.idgconnect.com>opinion>.
32
MehakSharma, ‗MustRead: What is Cyber Bullying or Anti-Bullying Laws in India‘ MyAdvo
(India, 6 Oct 2018) <https://www.myadvo.in>blog>.
33
India Ranks Third on Global Cyber Bullying List <https://www.endcyberbullying.org/india-
ranks-third-on-global-cyber-bullying-list>.
34
Shariful Islam, ‗Digital Bangladesh a reality now‘ (Dhaka, 11 July 2018)
<https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2018/07/11/digital-bangladesh-a-reality-now>
accessed 14 January 2019.
130 BiLD Law Journal 4(1)

in Bangladesh, and has extensive social, political and economic implications.

We have spoken to a number of stakeholders from different background on
cyberbullying.35 With the advantage in communication technology, the form
of cyberbullying has also changed. During the nineties, when mobile and land
phone came in Bangladesh, usually random calls were made in the landline
numbers since caller‘s number were not visible mostly. Random caller‘s
would ask explicit questions, and often made persistent request to be friends
and chit-chat with them. Sometimes the request of being friends would end up
in request for a romantic relationship. Internet was expensive and was not
available like it is today. When Bangladesh linked with an undersea
submarine cable in 2006 and cyber café business boomed, social networking
sites namely email became popular among the internet users. Afterwards,
other social networking sites namely Facebook, Instagram etc. became
popular and the users of these sites boomed. As of November 2018, there are
over 90 million of active internet users.36 Alongside, the expense of internet
reduced in Bangladesh and the prices of Smartphone, SIM and computers also
reduced. With the easy access to information and technology availed
anonymity and reach of mass population within seconds. On the other hands,
there are lack of awareness and laws to prevent or mitigate the situation. A
survey report has revealed that about 49% of school students in Bangladesh
fall a victim of cyberbullying.37 Women are the main victim and target of
cyberbullying.38 Recently, the UNICEF called for concern over the increased
cyber violence against the children and youth in Bangladesh.39

4.2 Mandates under the Existing Law

There are no existing laws in Bangladesh specifically defined the term

‗cyberbullying‘. Therefore, it cannot directly say that cyberbullying is an
individual offence under the existing laws of Bangladesh. However, if it
supports or constitute any offence under the existing laws of Bangladesh it can
be brought under the mandate of existing laws. Unlike the other common law
countries, civil litigation cannot be brought in this case,40 and only criminal
cases may be brought before the Court.

35
We have spoken to our peers and acquaintances and ask them a few questions. The stakeholders
were from different gender, age group and profession.
36
BTRC (Dhaka, 2018) <http://www.btrc.gov.bd/telco/internet> accessed 28 January 2018.
37
Unb, ‗49% Bangladeshi school pupils face cyberbullying‘ The Daily Star (Dhaka, 9 February
2016) <https://www.thedailystar.net/bytes/%E2%80%9849-bangladeshi-school-pupils-face-
cyberbullying%E2%80%99-287209> accessed 28 January 2019.
38
Faisal Mahmud, ‗Women increasingly falling prey to cyberbullying‘ The Independent (Dhaka, 25
October 2018) <http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/171850> accessed 25 January 2019.
39
UNICEF Bangladesh, ‗UNICEF calls for concerted action to prevent bullying and harassment for
the 32 per cent of children online in Bangladesh‘ (Dhaka, 5 February 2019)
<https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/en/press-releases/unicef-calls-concerted-action-prevent-
bullying-and-harassment-32-cent-children>.
40
In common law countries defamation is a civil offence.
Cyberbullying and Preventive Measures 131

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act 2006 is the very
first law specifically addressed cyber crimes. It was enacted to legally
recognise and provide security of information and communication technology
and to prepare rules of relevant subjects. This Act of 2006 recognises
electronic records legally. Section 57 of this Act provided punishment for
publishing fake, obscene or defaming information in electronic form. Amid
the wide criticism by the stakeholders on its broader and ambiguous wording,
this section, however, was repealed by the Digital Security Act 2018.41 Under
the ICT Act a Cyber Crime Tribunal was set up.42The mandate for
‗cyberbullying‘ under the ICT Act has, thus, became narrow and can only be
used against person who was entrusted of any of the power under the ICT Act
discloses confidentiality and privacy.43 However, until recently this law,
especially section 57 was frequently used against cybercrimes. Since there is
no mention of cyberbullying specifically, it also came beneath the broad range
of cybercrimes under this Act.

Under the Digital Security Act 2018 it is an offence to send or publish any
information that is offensive, false or intimidating etc.44 Therefore, if someone
continuously publish or sends any offensive, false or intimidating information
with the intention to bully others using any technology may constitute an
offence under the Act of 2018.

Penal Code 1860, being the parent criminal law, can also be invoked in this
case. Criminal intimidation,45defamation46 or any kind of
47
extortion (threatening another with any injury to his person, property,
reputation etc.) are the offences under the Penal Code, 1860 that can be
invoked if cyberbullying constitutes any of the aforementioned offences. In
number of cases relating to information technology, cases have been filed for
defamation. Case of Naem Nizam,48 editor of Bangla daily Bangladesh
Protidin, and Barrister Mainul Hosein49 could be exemplified here, though

41
Ashif Islam Shaon, ‗The question of Section 57‘ Dhaka Tribune (Dhaka, 10 August 2018)
<https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/law-rights/2018/08/10/the-question-of-section-57>
accessed 28 January 2019.
42
The Information and Communication Technology Act 2006, s 68.
43
ibid, s 63.
44
The Digital Security Act 2018, s 25.
45
The Penal Code 1860, s 503.
46
ibid, s 499.
47
ibid, s 383.
48
Star Online Report, ‗Bangladesh Protidin editor, publisher get bail in defamation case‘ The Daily
Star (Dhaka, 15 January 2018) <https://www.thedailystar.net/politics/bangladesh-protidin-editor-
publisher-get-bail-defamation-case-news-report-awami-league-leader-motahar-hossain-
1520143> accessed 30 January 2019.
49
UNB NEWS, ‗3 more defamation cases filed against Mainul‘ UNB (Dhaka, 28 October 2018)
<http://unb.com.bd/category/bangladesh/another-defamation-case-filed-against-mainul-in-
rajshahi/5219> accessed 30 January 2019.
132 BiLD Law Journal 4(1)

credibility of these cases is in question. Nevertheless, it is not unheard of to

bring a suit of defamation for crime relating to information and technology.

Harming a person‘s social status, black mailing or inflicting emotional abuse

on a person by means of pornography in respect of cyberbullying will be
penalized under Pornography Control Act 2012.50

One stop service has been opened by the Bangladesh Telecommunication

Regulatory Commission (BTRC) complains can be lodged by calling at +880-
29611111 or by emailing at [email protected]. In addition, cyber helpline has
been launched by the government. Victims can call at +8801766678888 to
submit their complaints. A specialized police unit named Cybercrime
Investigation Center (CIC) recently started their operations, which is equipped
with software named Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) to trace out any
remarks or postings that are defamatory and constitute an offence under ICT
Act.

4.3 Incidents that may Fall under Cyberbullying

In Bangladesh, the widely circulated incident of cyberbullying is perhaps the

country witnessed in 2016 when an investigative report was aired in a satellite
TV channel on the quality of education and the quality of GPA 5.51 In the
aired report the journalist interviewed 10-13 students who passed the
secondary school certificate examination and got GPA 5. They were asked
some basic questions like ‗what would be the translation of the Bangla
sentence ami GPA 5 peyechi [I have got GPA 5], when is the independence
day of Bangladesh etc. The interviewees could not answer the questions, and
one of the interviewees was seen translated ‗I am GPA 5‘ instead of ‗I have
got GPA 5‘. Without considering the other substances, the journalist went on
questioning the quality of the students getting GPA 5. The faces of the
interviewees were exposed to the viewers. As soon as the report was aired
mixed reaction came forward from the stakeholders namely concern over
ethics of journalism. Relevant to our topic, the sentence ‗I am GPA 5‘ became
a troll over the internet and the whole report became a humorous way of
questioning quality of one‘s education.52 If we filter this incident to the
definition (mentioned at the beginning of the paper), all three core elements
were present. The aired news was uploaded by the news channel in their
official site. Though the video was later on removed but by the time it was
viewed numerous times and downloaded and re-uploaded. Since it is stored in

50
The Pornography Control Act 2012, s 8(ii).
51
The highest Grade Point Average (GPA) one can get in the secondary and higher secondary
school certificate examination. The recorded news is still available in YouTube. We are not
citing the link of the news here since the faces of the interviewees are exposed.
52
Star Online Report, ‗Viral video: These wrong answers will shock you‘ The Daily Star (Dhaka,
30 May 2016) <http://sandbox.thedailystar.net/trending-socially/viral-video-these-wrong-
answers-will-shock-you-1231687 accessed 31 January 2019>.
Cyberbullying and Preventive Measures 133

cyberspace the news re-surfed. The interviewees were never given a chance to
defend themselves and, practically after the news was aired it was impossible
for them to defend themselves because of the apparent fear of social exclusion
and rejection.

Another incident maybe relevant here is the circulated answer of a beauty

pageant contestant in the question-answers round. When asked by a judge
‗What is H2O?‘, the contestant replied ‗a restaurant in Dhaka‘. After the
program was aired it became a source of meme and troll in the social media
sites among the Bangladeshi users.53 The same elements of cyberbullying
were present here. It was repeating and the victim was apparently socially
shamed and shunned.

5. Conclusion

It is difficult to establish cyberbullying as an independent offence without a

clear definition. Even the most recognized definition cannot always strictly
follow. Establishing the intention of the bullies would be difficult without an
explicit provision as well. Extensive research is also needed in this regard to
bring forward the true fact and to address the real situation. Enactment of
particular law regarding cyberbullying and it‘s strict application is also
required to control cyber harassment. However, when urging for clear
dentition it should also not contradictory to the rights protected under the
Article 39 of the Constitution of Bangladesh.

REFERENCES

Legislations

 The Penal Code 1860.

 The Information and Communication Technology Act 2006.
 The Pornography Control Act 2012.
 The Digital Security Act 2018.

Cases

 U.S. v Drew, 259 F.R.D. 449 (C.D. Cal. 2009).

53
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Bangla] RTV (Dhaka, 1 October 2018) < https://www.rtvonline.com/entertainment/52328/ -
- - - - - - >; Showtime Desk, ‗Another Miss World Bangladesh
finalist turns out to be Mrs‘ Dhaka Tribune (Dhaka, 12 October 2018)
<https://www.dhakatribune.com/feature/2018/10/12/another-miss-world-bangladesh-finalists-
turns-out-to-be-mrs>.
134 BiLD Law Journal 4(1)

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136 BiLD Law Journal 4(1)

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