{"id":116706,"date":"2026-08-03T10:16:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T04:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=116706"},"modified":"2026-08-03T10:16:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T04:46:01","slug":"doxxing-at-jantar-mantar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/doxxing-at-jantar-mantar\/","title":{"rendered":"Doxxing at Jantar Mantar: The Legal Grey Zone Facing Protest Victims in India Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Doxxing at Jantar Mantar Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women who participated in protests at New Delhi&#8217;s Jantar Mantar have faced an online backlash \u2014 with social media accounts sharing their videos, photographs, and personal details like phone numbers and home addresses, resulting in harassment including rape and death threats.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This has spotlighted a critical legal gap: <\/span><b>doxxing is not explicitly defined or criminalised under Indian law<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What is Doxxing?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Doxxing refers to the act of <\/span><b>publicly revealing someone&#8217;s private<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> personal information to intimidate or shame them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite severe real-world consequences, victims must navigate a patchwork of existing laws under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act, since no dedicated law addresses doxxing directly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Two Dimensions of the Problem<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Dissemination of personal information<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 legally uncertain and hard to prosecute.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Subsequent threats or harassment<\/b> <b>based on that information<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 easier to prosecute under existing criminal law.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Applicable Legal Provisions<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Section 78 (Stalking):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Applies if doxxing leads to monitoring a woman&#8217;s internet use or repeated unwanted contact.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Section 351 (Criminal Intimidation):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Covers rape and death threats.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Section 79:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Punishes acts &#8220;intended to insult the modesty of a woman&#8221; and those that &#8220;intrude upon&#8230; privacy&#8221; \u2014 applicable when doxxing involves publishing humiliating images.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Criminal defamation provisions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Can be invoked if published content damages reputation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Section 12, POCSO Act<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Applies additionally if the victim is a minor, penalising sexual harassment of minors.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Under the Information Technology Act<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Section 66E:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Criminalises capturing or publishing images of private body parts without consent.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Section 72A:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The main recourse for unauthorised disclosure of general personal data \u2014 but this only provides for a financial penalty of up to Rs 5 lakh, making it a civil wrong rather than a criminal offence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Legal experts note that mere publication of personal data is treated as a civil matter under the IT Act, &#8220;unless intimate images are shared.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Platform Accountability<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the <\/span><b>Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, social media platforms must make reasonable efforts to prevent hosting content that is &#8220;invasive of another&#8217;s privacy&#8230; insulting or harassing on the basis of gender.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Timelines for platforms: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Acknowledge complaints within 24 hours; resolve general complaints within 7 days; resolve severe cases (privacy invasion, harassment) within 36 hours.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Non-compliance risks a platform losing its &#8220;safe harbour&#8221; protection \u2014 the legal immunity shielding tech companies from prosecution over user-posted content.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In practice, responsiveness varies significantly across platforms.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Recourse for Victims<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Preserve all evidence \u2014 screenshots and URLs of abusive posts.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Report content using platform-internal tools.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">File a formal complaint on the government&#8217;s National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reach out to digital security helplines run by non-profits for preventive and remedial assistance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Jantar Mantar doxxing cases reveal a stark legal vacuum \u2014 while threats and harassment stemming from doxxing can be prosecuted under existing criminal law, the act of publishing private information itself remains largely a civil offence carrying only monetary penalties.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This patchwork approach, combined with inconsistent platform accountability, leaves victims \u2014 particularly women protesters \u2014 inadequately protected, underscoring the need for a dedicated legal framework explicitly recognising and criminalising doxxing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/doxxing-laws-india-explained-10813794\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Doxxing at Jantar Mantar explains India&#8217;s legal framework on doxxing, BNS and IT Act provisions, platform accountability, and remedies available to protest victims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":116721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[9191,60,22,59],"class_list":["post-116706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-doxxing-at-jantar-mantar","tag-mains-articles","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116706"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116712,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116706\/revisions\/116712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}