Crusader or vigilante?

With an Indian lawyer putting out a post to name “sexual offenders,” we ask if this is a case of taking law in one’s hands or a move to take charge of safety.

In the last couple of weeks, the #MeToo campaign has taken the Internet by storm. It has been impossible to log on to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and miss out a post — all of social media is still brimming with confessions of sexual harassment. One after the other, women have shared stories of men in positions of power, who continued to sexually harass them for long periods of time.

In the wake of this, Raya Sarkar, a lawyer, put up a Facebook post inviting women anywhere and everywhere to post the names of men who have sexually harassed them, specifically in Indian educational institutions. At the time of writing this article, there were at least 60 professors from leading institutions like Film and Television Institute of India, Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, named as alleged harassers.

When the post went viral within the first 10 hours of it being uploaded, one was immediately in either of two groups — one believing strongly that this method was wrong, illegal and even unethical; and the other praising the lawyer for her act of vigilantism, and the women for bravely coming out with the names of their harassers.

Raya Sarkar (Photo: Facebook)

Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, belongs to the former category. “It is completely unethical — the woman who originally posted this on Facebook, what kind of an authority does she have to be compiling a list that calls out the names of potential harassers?” she asks, adding that she is unsure how Raya plans to take this cause forward. There is also Nandini Sardesai, women’s rights activist and sociologist, who concurs. “This could easily be deemed as an act of vigilantism by not only the girl who originally encouraged women to openly name these male professors, but also the women who took the bait and came out with the names,” she explains.

While this idea seems to be common among some people, author and feminist Meghna Pant is on the other side of the fence. “I think a lot of people are wasting a lot of time just bashing the act. And this isn’t new; we see this happen a lot of times where the woman has to prove the happening of the act in order to rightfully accuse her assaulter,” she says, adding that we need to take the time out to appreciate the campaign itself.

Whether Raya’s methods were ethical or not doesn’t have a black or white answer, but one thing that can be acknowledged is that we aren’t new to name and shame campaigns. It is often a much-followed method to tackle even issues like public urination and littering. But resorting to this for an issue such as sexual harassment doesn’t seem to sit well with many.

Anil Dharker

Deeming this method as an act of vigilantism, Anil Dharker, columnist and director of a literature festival, says that this is quite unethical. “However, this does not go to say that these acts did not happen. I still think that something like this shouldn’t be taking place on Facebook or any form of social media. This should be taken up with the authorities because that is the only way it can be taken forward,” he says.

Activist Abha Singh concurs. “What does the law say?” she questions. Without waiting for an answer, she continues, “That if any citizen has any inkling of a crime being committed by someone against someone, they are to report it to the authorities, who will take it forward? Does the girl who posted this on social media asking women to speak up, intend to do so? We don’t know that yet,” she says.

Anuvab Pal, comedian

Like Anil, comedian Anuvab Pal doesn’t like to rely on the power of social media. “For a post to go viral, it is very easy — if it touches a nerve or resonates with a lot of people, it is bound to get shared thousands of time. But where does it go? What after that?” he questions. “If the young lawyer is going to leave it at that then that doesn’t do much. Sure, it started a conversation around the subject and encouraged several women to come out with the name of their harassers, but now, if she doesn’t intend to legally take this forward, I think the cause will soon die,” he says.

Comparing this name and shame campaign to the precursory #MeToo campaign, Anuvab points out that what is important is not that women come out with a name but that they bring forth evidence. “Observe how the Harvey Weinstein accusations went through. Each woman who shared her accounts of plight, followed it up with a legal next step — legally charging the film director of assault, rape or harassment. And that is what needs to happen here too,” he explains. At the time of going to press, Raya had not responded to our mails.