Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi announced on Friday that women being harassed on Twitter can reach out to her by using the hashtag #IamTrolledHelp.
Ms. Gandhi held a meeting with a team from Twitter India to iron out details of how harassment & hateful conduct on social media platform can be handled.
The Ministry has received 50 complaints already, informed a senior official in the WCD Ministry.
“We do not know how many of these complaints are actionable. Unless we get a formal complaint, we will not be able to help the victims of harassment. We are not trying to police the social media platforms but if somebody is aggrieved, they can get in touch with us and we will work with Twitter to solve this issue,” said a senior official in the WCD Ministry.
As of now, the ministry has not roped in the National Commission for Women, he added. It was decided that the complaints received by the Ministry, which are of a grave nature, will be reported to Twitter India for necessary action.
Cyber crime
The Ministry will be working with the Cyber crime cells of the police authorities, wherever required in this regard.
In a PIB statement, the Ministry announced that they are advising women and children to send their complaints, if they are being abused or harassed on social media platforms, to the Ministry with the specific hashtag.
“Ever since this message was sent out, the Ministry has been receiving a large number of complaints on this. The entire issue has been discussed in detail in light of the nature of complaints,” stated the press release.
The WCD Ministry will be working with Twitter India to address abusive behaviour, violent threats (direct or indirect), harassment — in case of people engaging in or inciting targeted abuse and hateful conduct, categorised as promotion of violence or direct attack or threatening other people.
