Why in news?

Women who participated in protests at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar have faced an online backlash — 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.

This has spotlighted a critical legal gap: doxxing is not explicitly defined or criminalised under Indian law.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• What is Doxxing?
• Applicable Legal Provisions
• Recourse for Victims
• Conclusion

What is Doxxing?

• Doxxing refers to the act of publicly revealing someone's private personal information to intimidate or shame them.
• 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.
• Two Dimensions of the Problem
  • Dissemination of personal information — legally uncertain and hard to prosecute.
  • Subsequent threats or harassment based on that information — easier to prosecute under existing criminal law.

Applicable Legal Provisions

• Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)
  • Section 78 (Stalking): Applies if doxxing leads to monitoring a woman's internet use or repeated unwanted contact.
  • Section 351 (Criminal Intimidation): Covers rape and death threats.
  • Section 79: Punishes acts "intended to insult the modesty of a woman" and those that "intrude upon... privacy" — applicable when doxxing involves publishing humiliating images.
  • Criminal defamation provisions: Can be invoked if published content damages reputation.
  • Section 12, POCSO Act: Applies additionally if the victim is a minor, penalising sexual harassment of minors.
• Under the Information Technology Act
  • Section 66E: Criminalises capturing or publishing images of private body parts without consent.
  • Section 72A: The main recourse for unauthorised disclosure of general personal data — but this only provides for a financial penalty of up to Rs 5 lakh, making it a civil wrong rather than a criminal offence.
  • Legal experts note that mere publication of personal data is treated as a civil matter under the IT Act, "unless intimate images are shared."

Platform Accountability

• Under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, social media platforms must make reasonable efforts to prevent hosting content that is "invasive of another's privacy... insulting or harassing on the basis of gender."
• Timelines for platforms: Acknowledge complaints within 24 hours; resolve general complaints within 7 days; resolve severe cases (privacy invasion, harassment) within 36 hours.
• Non-compliance risks a platform losing its "safe harbour" protection — the legal immunity shielding tech companies from prosecution over user-posted content.
• In practice, responsiveness varies significantly across platforms.

Recourse for Victims

• Preserve all evidence — screenshots and URLs of abusive posts.
• Report content using platform-internal tools.
• File a formal complaint on the government's National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
• Reach out to digital security helplines run by non-profits for preventive and remedial assistance.

Conclusion

The Jantar Mantar doxxing cases reveal a stark legal vacuum — 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.

This patchwork approach, combined with inconsistent platform accountability, leaves victims — particularly women protesters — inadequately protected, underscoring the need for a dedicated legal framework explicitly recognising and criminalising doxxing.