Leading social scientists advocated for robust international laws to compellingly deal with cyber-crimes ranging from hate speech to spiteful prejudices, at the 5th International Conference on South Asian Society of Criminology and Victimology (SASCV), hosted in Bengaluru RV University.

Over 260 academics from across the globe, including those from the USA, the UK, Nigeria, the Philippines, Malaysia, Kosovo, Italy, Dubai, Bangladesh, and Nepal participated in the two-day conference where over 60 papers were presented on topics related to cyber criminology such as trafficking, cyber terrorism, digital foot-printing and transnational crimes.

Organized in partnership with International Institute of Crime and Security Sciences (IICSS), the conference was marked by engaging deliberations among speakers, delegates and academics on “zero tolerance for hate speech, both offline and online”, as propounded in the keynote address by Dr. KP Ashwini, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism. 

She expressed serious concerns over the rampant spread of online hate speech that has led to an increase in violence across the world, and called for fail-proof international laws to check the malaise.

Stressing the need to address prejudices based on gender, caste, race and geography, Dr Ashwini voiced the global disquiet about discrimination, casteism and islamophobia in cyberspace, warning that these could lead to misogyny, mass shooting, mob lynching and even ethnic cleansing.

Dr AVS Murthy, Pro Chancellor, RV University observed that India had become one of the most attacked and breached countries in the world. Underling the need to address the inadequacy of the existing data protection Bill and the cyber laws in protecting the information and rights of citizens, he said, “Several sections of our population have been victims of cyber-stalking, cyber-bullying, technology-facilitated sexual violence, and the authorities often neglect the victimization faced by them. There is a general lack of awareness when it comes to knowledge of the rights of cyber victims. Some rules and mechanisms exist under the present legal system, but these rules do not cover all strains of victim justice and the effectiveness of these mechanisms is questionable.”

Dr Jaishankar, General Chair – SASCV 2023 added “We need to understand the interrelationship between Cyber Criminology, Legislative Framework in relation to Cyber Crimes, Security Measures to counter Cyber Threats, Cyber Forensics and in the end, work towards a better institutional arrangement for effectively delivering Justice to those who are victimized online. The Fifth International Conference of SASCV was a platform to address these issues.”

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