Driving to Suicide, From Bullying to Psychological Tortures

I. Introduction

Bullying is basically a way in which other person is abused, threated, dominated or is a victim of force and coercion. Bulling can be a habitual behaviour of a person. Bullying takes place when there is imbalance of social and physical powers among individuals. A person can be hurt by repeated aggressive behaviour which may hurt another emotionally, physically or mentally. This bullying culture may develop in schools, homes or at workplace. Bullying is mainly divided into four parts that are, psychological, verbal, physical and cyber.

Bullying may harm a persons brain and may cause psychological imbalance which leads to suicide. Bullying impacts more on children and adolescents which may have lasting effects for many years.

II. Earlier stages of bullying

In day to day life an individual face bullying in every phase of life. Bullying starts from very beginning right from home to schools, colleges and workplace. Cyberbullying has taken this concept to another next level. When a person is not able to handle his psychological imbalance the last option which seems available to him is suicide. Following are some of the reasons from where bullying starts:

• Family Bullying- Bullying in home can be a physical violence or verbal abuse. Any family member may bully another person. Mainly women and children are victim of abuse. Bullying at home can lead to a very dangerous impact on upbringing of a children, which may in future can become a bully. Psychological reason behind a person being a bully remains that he may have faced such situations in his past life. Bullying at home to a person having anxiety, depression like issues. Specially in childhood if a child is physically abused the child’s self-image is maimed for lifetime. Which causes them depression and anxiety and they starts feeling like that suicide is the last option.
• Bullying in Schools- In 2016, the National Centre for Educational Statistics reported that out of every five students one in bullied in school. Those who are bullied always feel frightened and powerless. Schools are the place where a child can grow but when he is bullied that might hinder his growth mentally as well as physically. Children take thing to their heart very easily, every small thing matters to them. A silly rumour can make them depressed or worried. Mainly in schools groups are made who bully their juniors.

Mainly there are situations where parents send their children to boarding or some bigger schools to give them best education. But schools play the role of negligence by supporting bullying in schools either by teachers or by other students. Similarly, in Sanjeev Garg v. Ut of Chandigarh and ors.², in this case the petitioner was shifted to a new city for better education of his children. The father of victim claimed that his son was bullied by other students and school was blamed for causing mental depression on the child. Such situations have a long-lasting effect on a child’s brain and he might feel like a defeated person for whole life. Bullying during initial years might even cause permanent damage to the brain.

(i) CBSE School Bullying Law is made by CBSE under which schools are bound to make a committee which deals in the cases of bullying and ragging.

Schools are under a pressure where child safety is must. Teachers even are not allowed to hit children because it may create a fear and hatred among them. Mental health is disturbed when a child is bullied. Parents also need to keep an eye on their child so that if anyone bullies their child, the child could be helped and not exploited.

• Bullying at College- Bullying at any level is dangerous. After school when children go to college the pattern totally changes. For an adult it becomes very difficult to handle the mental pressure. There are many children who step out for the first time away from their family and homes for college studies. All of a sudden there are many new things. And bullying has become a tradition in colleges as they say seniors has also faced ragging and they why they should not follow the footsteps of their seniors. In colleges bullying is more harmful for mental as well as for physical health. And if a person is bullied from his own roommate then it becomes impossible to escape.

This issue has been raised even also in Lok Sabha debates where it was contended that a legislation must be brought banning the ragging in colleges. Because this ragging culture has become death kneels for some students. Even parents also worry about sending their children to colleges in other cities³.

(i) Government of India in order to stop bullying has enacted a regulation called UGC Regulation on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Education Institutions, 2009 with the objective to prohibit ragging in colleges.

(ii) With this anti-ragging law there are certain provisions of Indian Penal Code, 1860 which gives a person protection under law to file a FIR under Section 294, 339, 340, 341, 342, 506 and if the bullying takes an image of extreme violence Section 323, 324, 325, 326 and while bullying if a person loses his life Section 304, 306, 307 will be charged on the bully⁴.

In the case of Yelchuri Manohar v. State of Andhra Pradesh⁵, an incident took place which shook the hole state where a girl student who was studying for her practical exam was brutally attacked from behind and hacked to death. The appellant was preparator of this shocking crime and was convicted for Life Imprisonment under Section 302 od Indian Penal Code, 1860.

(iv) And to also solve the problem of ragging government of India introduced The Prohibition and Eradication of Ragging Act, 2016 to prohibit and eradicate ragging in educational institutions.

• Bullying at Workplace- Bullying at workplace could be in any form which may be even for a person’s professional image. Bullying can be done by co-employees or by the superior ones. A person may be misled about work or is given incorrect guidelines so that his work may suffer. Unhealthy criticism where a person is humiliated will be considered as bullying. Bullying may hinder work pace of an employee as he would always under an unwanted depression from where he could not escape. It becomes the employers responsibility to have a check on his employees through subordinates that no bullying shall take place. Employer becomes liable if anything wrong happens to a employee.

In the leading judgement of Vishaka and others v. State of Rajasthan⁶, the Supreme Court gave the Vishaka guidelines that defined sexual harassment and put the obligation on the employers to provide a safe working atmosphere to the women employed.

Thus, Vishaka guidelines are required to be followed by every employer.

• Cyberbullying- Cyberbullying happens when a person threatens, harass or embarrass the other person using technology by digital device. There are cyber bullying laws commonly known as Anti-bullying Laws which are made to punish the offenders and protect the victims. Cyberbullying could be done through several social media platforms. The different forms of cyberbullying can be hacking of accounts, posting vulgar messages or comments or pictures, misusing of banking accounts, threatening a person to commit any heinous crime, stalking etc.

(i) Section 67 of Information Technology Act, 2000 deals with the cyberbullying.

(ii) Section 66 E of the IT Act,2000 prescribes punishment for violation of privacy where punishment is given to a person who transmits, capture or publishes any private picture of others.

(iii) Section 507 of IPC, 1860 also covers the offence of anti-bullying and cyberbullying.

In Patanjali Ayurveda Limited & Anr. v. Google LLC. & Ors.⁷, in the case some defamatory video was uploaded by some unknown person and also some threatening statements were made against the plaintiff. The video was on YouTube whose link was available on Facebook. Plaintiff gave notices to remove such videos. Thus, the High Court of Delhi issued a decree in favour of plaintiff and it was ordered to remove the video.

III. Impact on human psychology

Bullying have long-lasting psychological impact on a person. Depression and anxiety are the most common impacts on the victim. The victim remains with low confident for lifetime. There are emotional outbreaks. These problems make a full balanced life more difficult where victim starts having thoughts of not living anymore. They have a difficulty in making and maintain relationships either with family, friends or their partners. There are most of the time trust issues because victim is always under the fear of getting bullied again. There is more of emotional harm than physical harm in such situations.

Not only the victim but also the bully grows up to be unhappy and they could also be depressed by feeling how bad they have done to others in past. Violence actions not work for lifetime and they start feeling like losers in life. They might face problems like problem in retaining a relationship or friendship or even problems at holding a job. When feeling guilty they may have suicidal thoughts to cover up the past doings. Bullies are at greater risk for antisocial personality disorder⁸.

IV. Suggestions to curb this problem

• Counselling- Counselling is the best way which can solve this problem of bullying. With the help of counselling complex emotions like anger, guilt, anxiety, sadness and hurt can be managed. In counselling a person’s self-esteem shall be uplifted so that he is not bullied in future. Methods to fight bully must be taught to them. Counselling will help in breaking the victimisation cycle and can improve communication skills of a person. And the person who gets bullied can be stopped from depression or suicide when he will express himself properly. There is no need for counselling from a third person it can be done at home by parents or friends.
• Laws- Anti-bullying laws must be regulated strictly so that a safety should be ensured to the victim. Sometimes bullying leads to physical abuse in colleges and workplace which abets a person to suicide or murder someone. Sections like 323, 324, 325, 326, 304, 306,307 etc. of Indian Penal Code, 1860 provides protection to a person. There are even various laws made for the protection of women if she is bullied at home or at workplace like The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005; The Sexual

Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 etc.

• Reach for help- A person needs to help himself first by reaching out to public or the help that he wants. If he will take stand for himself than only others will help him. Suicide is not the last option if one is willing to fight for oneself. In the example like Boys locker room, if the girls would not have raised voice for themselves then nobody would have helped them. Such example gives the victim a strength to fight his own battle and stand for himself.
• Use of technology- Use of technology can be very helpful, if a person gets bullied and he records all that and thus can lodge a FIR against the bully and those evidence can be a life saviour for the victim. Internet has a great power where that evidence can be posted and many people come forward to help them. If the same technology is harming them then that same technology can save them from bullies.

In the case of Shibani Barik v. State of Odisha⁹, in this case the where Tiktok videos were made public and led to suicide of the deceased. Thus, after investigation extracted under Section 161 of CrPC it was evident that the person was liable for abetment to suicide under Section 306 of IPC, 1860. Technology used for fun could be dangerous in talking lives of many.

V. Conclusion

There is no link between bullying and suicide, there are multiple factors which may cause a person to do suicide. Victims of bullying are at a risk of suicides. When a person is bullied and is not even supported by his friends or family a peer pressure is created where he starts feeling like nobody loves him so he must end his life by suicide. There is need where the bullied person must be monitored and the behavioural changes he has, then only such situation can be handled. There is no bigger support than a family and parents and if a child is neglected by them, he might have issues like depression. Suicide is not always a last option for a person if he have such kind of thoughts in his mind them, he must talk to others must reach out for help. And we as human should also keep an eye on our friends and people around us. If anyone is facing bullying then he must be helped. When a person is gone it becomes very easy to say that he must have talked to anyone but it becomes responsibility of every individual to keep a check on their loved ones. Law gives protection but mental pressure could not be handled by law. Psychological tortures have become a new trend where people find it very easy to end up their lives. Suicides are never an option every thing can be solved with courage.

Footnotes

1. Author is a Student at KIIT School of Law, Bhubaneswar, India.

2. Sanjeev Garg v. Ut of Chandigarh and ors. CWP-15750-2017 (O&M) ↩

3. Lok Sabha Debates, Need to bring A Legislation Banning Ragging In Educational Institutions in Country, https://indiankanoon.org/doc/248727// (Last Visited on July 22, 2020) ↩

4. Sudip Ghosh, Anti-bullying Laws in Indian for Schools, Colleges & Cyber World, IPLEADERS, https://blog.ipleaders.in/anti-bullying-laws-in-india-schools-colleges-cyberworld/amp/ (Last Visited on July 23, 2020) ↩

5. Yelchuri Manohar v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 2005(2) ALD Cri 751, 2005 CriLJ 4593 ↩

6. Vishaka and others v. State of Rajasthan AIR 1997 SC 3011 ↩

7. Patanjali Ayurveda Limited & Anr. v. Google LLC. & Ors. CS (OS) 104/2019 & I.A.2577/2019 ↩

8. The Psychological Effects of Bullying on Kids & Teens, https://mastersinpsychologyguide.com/articles/psychological-effects-bullying-kids-teens/ (Last Visited on July 24, 2020) ↩

9. Shibani Barik v. State of Odisha, BLAPL NO. 915 of 2020 ↩