What do you do if your private photos are up on a porn website? Brut asked Tanya Appachu aka YourInstaLawyer for some crucial legal remedies every Indian woman should be aware of.
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00:00Marital rape is not legally recognized as a rape in India, but in case of issues,
00:05you can take recourse of it under the Domestic Violence Act.
00:08Abortion is legal in India. They can state that it is affecting their mental health
00:13and that is a good enough reason to get an abortion.
00:15Anybody you are in a domestic relationship with,
00:20say your husband, even your parents, you can file a domestic violence case against any one of them.
00:30Cyberbullying covers cyberstalking, trolling, people sending you hurtful comments online,
00:42or somebody impersonating you, creating a fake profile of you.
00:49It also covers sexual harassment cases online, where your private photographs are shared online.
00:56And in case someone is threatening you, it could affect you in real life.
01:02So all that gets covered under cyberbullying.
01:04First thing is to block the person.
01:07Second is to report abuse on the platform.
01:09And third is to file a complaint with the police.
01:13Some issues can be solved by just merely blocking the person and giving you some kind of mental
01:21But some issues such as if you are being threatened online,
01:24or if someone is stalking you, somebody is making a fake profile of you,
01:28that cannot be solved by just blocking or reporting.
01:31So you need to go file a police complaint.
01:34You're in some sort of trouble and you need to go to the police station,
01:37but you're damn scared to do so.
01:39If you know your rights, you have nothing to be scared of.
01:42Remember that you can file a complaint in any police station for a serious crime.
01:46Two, you can also file a complaint via an email or a registered post.
01:50Three, women cannot be called for questioning before sunrise or after sunset to the station.
01:56Four, you have right to free legal aid and therefore don't hesitate to ask the police for a lawyer.
02:03If you're not comfortable going to the police, then you can always go online,
02:08go online on cybercrime.gov.in and file a complaint there.
02:17So I cannot say this enough because this is a very confusing question for almost all women.
02:24Abortion is legal in India and married women can get an abortion.
02:30Even unmarried women can get an abortion.
02:33They can state that it is affecting their mental health
02:35and that is a good enough reason to get an abortion.
02:39Another important thing is that you do not need the permission of your parents
02:44if you're above 18 when you're getting an abortion.
02:46You also do not need the permission of your husband if you're married to get an abortion.
02:52So it is basically my body, my rules.
02:54Abortion is available only up to 20 weeks of the age of the fetus
03:00and up to 24 weeks in case there is a medical issue or a health problem
03:05that really requires you to abort.
03:08And in very exceptional cases, the courts grant abortion over that period
03:14in case there is a threat to the life of the woman, of the mother
03:19or it is a rape issue where the child is below 18 years of age
03:23and then they've allowed for abortion in such exceptional cases.
03:33Domestic violence, like when you hear the term domestic violence,
03:36you would always relate it with physical violence.
03:39So people mostly end up thinking that domestic violence,
03:42the domestic violence act in India covers only physical violence
03:45like if someone slaps you or you got punched or you got hit.
03:51But actually in reality, domestic violence act covers a range of abuses
03:57starting from verbal abuse to sexual abuse, financial abuse and economic abuse.
04:02So anybody you are in a domestic relationship with, say your husband
04:09and if you're below 18 years of age, even your parents, relatives of your husband,
04:14you can file a domestic violence case against any one of them.
04:18You have two options.
04:19One is you file a police complaint for cruelty
04:24that you're facing in your marriage or at your home.
04:29Also, you can file a complaint for dowry harassment
04:32that also comes under cruelty, but I'm just mentioning it.
04:35Marital rape is not legally recognized as a rape in India,
04:39like it's not recognized under IPC, under the Indian Penal Code.
04:43But in case you're having any sexual abuse issues within your marriage,
04:50you can take recourse of it under the Domestic Violence Act.
04:58In case you are in a situation where you're being threatened
05:01or you're being blackmailed or your private photographs have been shared online
05:08or shared with people, that amounts to sexual harassment and you can take action against it.
05:14First of all, be prompt and go file a police complaint.
05:18Second is in case you have identified where your photographs or videos have been shared,
05:23like if they've been shared on a particular porn website.
05:27So some websites have content removal forms.
05:30So in case you have not consented to a certain content,
05:34you can go fill up the content removal form and submit it,
05:37and that website will remove that content from their website.
05:42And in case the websites do not have a content removal form,
05:46you can send a legal notice to these websites
05:49and ask them to remove the content because you have not consented to it.
05:53And in case the content has been put on social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook,
06:00then you have the option of filing a DMCA takedown form.
06:05So DMCA is basically a copyright infringement form.
06:09In case your photographs have been used on some platform without your permission,
06:14then you file a DMCA form.
06:15So you just Google, search DMCA Instagram or DMCA Facebook,
06:21and then you'll get a form.
06:23You fill that form up and then what the platform will do is,
06:27they will take down the content.
06:28I think the main thing you should remember is,
06:31do not feel guilty.
06:32It is not your fault.
06:34Do not feel ashamed of it and carry that guilt forever.
06:37Act quickly.
06:39Take action against your harasser and be safe on the internet.