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On 15th May, 2019, a girl named Paridhi (@the_centaur on Instagram) posted a series of stories, revealing the cyber harassment one of her friends faced while applying for an internship on Internshala.

Internshala is one of India’s largest website providing students with ample opportunities for internships at different companies across the country. As of 2018, the platform has 3.5 million students registered and 80,000 companies associated with them.

On 15th May 2019, a girl named Paridhi uploaded stories talking about the kind of cyber harassment one of her friends underwent with regards to an internship offer from a company named Zvaari.com. Paridhi’s friend went on Internshala to look for an internship, and was contacted by a person from the aforementioned company, who made claims about working with graphics for Nike, Facebook, and Apple. But, to her, these did not add up to the information present on the website. The person also asked her for a deposit of INR 2,400 to provide her with a secure laptop for work purposes, claiming that the money would be refunded. After realising that this offer did not sound safe, the girl decided not to go for the internship.

Thereafter, she received explicit and inappropriate images and messages on her WhatsApp. After multiple such complaints were reported to Internshala, they mailed applicants an advisory note to inform them that they have blocked the company from using their platform as the company “violated their policies”. Unhappy with such a response, Paridhi used her Instagram account to post her disgust for this issue and she gathered support from her followers to repost her stories so that Internshala would take some concrete action.

Part 1 of the stories shared by Paridhi. Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi
Part 1 of the stories shared by Paridhi.
Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi
Part 2 of the stories shared by Paridhi. Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi
Part 2 of the stories shared by Paridhi.
Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi

Paridhi’s stories garnered an immediate outrageous reaction and Kavya, a worker from Internshala, went ahead to message a private apology to her. She updated her on the situation and told her the actions Internshala is willing to take to further strengthen their verification procedures, in order to avoid anything like this in the future.

When DU Beat contacted Kavya, she responded by stating, “This is a very unfortunate incident and no student should have to experience this. We deeply apologise to the students for the extremely poor experience. We have a huge sense of moral responsibility towards our students and while we are handling this issue, we are also looking on ways to strengthen our internship authentication process further so as to avoid any such issue in the future.” She also went on to elaborate the verification procedure undertaken by Internshala, and added that in this particular case, the employer had registered from an official email address, had provided a functional website link, Facebook page, and his phone number was verified via a one-time password (OTP) so that he could be traced if required. Kavya went on to add that Internshala has acknowledged the student’s complaint and, as per the standard operating procedure, has blocked the employer account on the platform and sent an advisory email to all the other applicants of the same internship. She also stated that given the gravity of the situation, they are also exploring possible legal actions that can be taken against the employer and have informed the student about the same. She stated, “We are deeply pained by this incident and are committed to providing all necessary support to the affected students.”

This form of cyber bullying and harassment has increased over the years. Girls receive explicit images, texts, and even rape threats on their personal mobile numbers. For it to happen via a seemingly secure platform, popular among the youth, like Internshala speaks a lot about the lack of cyber security, as well as the sexually violent and frustrated mindsets of men who feel safe enough to harass girls under the veil of technology. Such acts of oppression against females are examples of power struggle and hypermasculinity girls all over the world are fighting against.

Social media, in such cases, has turned out to be a boon in some cases by empowering the violated ones to speak about the problems. These people, or their well wishers, have fortunately come up, sharing their stories of such unfortunate instances on their social media platforms and garnered support from people. More power to these young women who are not shying away from taking a stand, going out there and telling their stories. It is a jarring world and support does change things.

Feature Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi (@the_centaur)

Sakshi Arora

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September 10 is observed as the World Suicide Prevention Day. Suicide cases are on the rise in recent years due to reasons that need to be minimized to ensure good mental health.

On the day of September 10 organizations like World Health Organization (WHO) and International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) organize various events to promote and conduct activities for spreading more awareness about suicides. With the increasing number of suicide rates, let’s have a look at the leading causes leading to such tragedy:

  • Depression

There are over 350 million people who suffer from depression all across the world. Low self-esteem is a huge contributor. Everyone sets targets for themselves and failing to complete them can demoralize them and make them question themselves. Family issues are also undeniably a great cause for mental stress. Resorting to alcohol and other drugs seems as an easy solution to let go of the stress one undergoes. But again, that has disastrous effects which ultimately leads to addiction and contributes towards isolation from friends and family.

 

  • Peer Pressure

Peers fulfill an essential social requirement all of us have. But their impact can go wrong  at times. In a competitive environment, not being able to do what your peers do or not achieving something as good as your peers can inject a sense of low morale in oneself. The thought of not doing something worthwhile terrorizes the mind and harms mental health.

Creating awareness on prevention of suicides
Creating awareness on prevention of suicides

 

  • Cyber Bullying

Cyber bullying cases have intensified with the rise of the internet’s popularity where over 25% of the teens have reported to being repeatedly bullied over the internet. In recent times, there has been an outburst of suicidal cases due to a game called “The Blue Whale Challenge” which is targeting  teens. The challenges include tasks like carving a whale on your body and eventually, the last challenge of the game requires the person to commit suicide.

 

  • Relationship Issues

Being in a relationship is seen as a very normal part of our lives today. However, deep attachment to your partner and the inability to cope up with conflicts induce a great degree of pain that encourages self-harm and even suicide. Such cases make a person’s mind fragile and they are exposed to suicidal thoughts eventually resulting in committing suicide.

 

But amidst all the mental chaos, we must not forget that we have been blessed with the gift of life and that we should rejoice it. Talking to friends or family members can lessen our burden and also help us find solutions to any problems. Sports, games, music, debates etc. help us in keeping our minds healthy. Hanging out with friends or reading a book may help too. Doing social work helps one feel satisfied and fills one with joy. There are adequate ways to cope up and solve mental issues that trouble us. But we must face it and overcome such hurdles. So this September, let’s smile and spread smiles to let people know that we care.

Feature image credits: Village Publishing

Image credits: TWLoha

 

Karan Singhania

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