In a new book, a lawyer lists the legal actions women can take against online rape and death threats

Giving women death or rape threats on social media has become the latest fad in cyberbullying. The trolls are so out of control that, back in 2021, even Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma’s ten-month-old daughter was not spared. A man sent her a rape threat on Twitter after the Kohli-led Indian team did not perform well in the T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup. Even prominent female journalists like Barkha Dutt, Rana Ayyub and Nidhi Razdan have time and again received rape threats, especially if they reported against the ruling party. In fact, Razdan went on record on Twitter, asking Instagram to take action against such bullies.

I got a death threat on @instagram via a pvt msg: “I will hang you,I will execute you”. I reported the account to @instagram. They replied that it does not violate their guidelines. Shame on you @instagram. Am deleting my account. And yes, I’m filing an FIR— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) June 10, 2018

While we don’t know what happened about Razdan’s FIR, let us understand what you should do if someone tries this on you.

1. Block and report: Block the trolls and report them on the social media platform concerned. I know this sounds like nothing, but it is the first step, especially...

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