KATHMANDU, May 20: With the hope of stopping cyber misconducts, some Nepali celebs have formed a Facebook group called ‘Zero tolerance’. The group is a private one and has limited people who share information on issues and seek solutions. The most discussed issue in the group is the portrayal of female celebrities in media platforms.

Republica Online talked to a few notable names in the Nepali entertainment industry that are members of this close group. They want to “solve issues in a holistic and optimistic way”. ‘Zero tolerance against corruption, nepotism, impunity and unqualified leaders’ is how the group is introduced and it was created by actress Nisha Adhikari.

Adhikari says that although the group is mostly dealing with reducing negative comments directed at public figures in social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, it wants to discuss a broad range of issues to come to a solution. “The group is formed to counter the idea that one cannot do anything behind the virtual screens,” she said.  

By now the group has people from various backgrounds joining in – from public figures to legal experts. The account holders of various social media accounts posting questionable posts allowing negative comments are also added to the group.

The work done here is simple and functions in two phases, says Adhikari. First, the artists reach out to the media in question individually. This, as Adhikari mentions, is the most that they can do in order to settle the issue peacefully. However, if the issue is still not settled then they report such channels to the respective platforms and continue to work against the guidelines provided on social media handles.

On Tuesday, actress Rima Bishwakarma spoke to the group. She wrote: “I am thankful to most of the media houses for quick response but I haven’t yet heard anything from Fursad Nepal, Active Minds Nepal, what's trending Nepal, Nepalifilmy Khabar, Ranga Khabar, DCnepal, RED DOT MEDIA, Mero Sathi TV and JunkeriLight Tv” adding,  “I repeat, your media house has been using my personal pictures and videos without my consent. Please remove them. I won't hesitate to seek legal help if necessary. Thank you in advance.”

Quickly responding to Bishwakarma’s post, Ashik Lama, who claimed to be associated with DCnepal – one of the names she quoted, wrote, “Hi Rima Bishwakarma, I am associated with #Dcnepal. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I’ve asked my team to step up and do the needful as soon as now. Please share if you have any particular link or video you want us to take out from the site. I’ll be more than happy to do so”. This is just one instance of how the group is working. Adhikari says multiple accounts that have been added to the group have already removed such comments and posts directed towards someone’s personal life.

The motive of adding people from the legal field to the group is to educate the account holders about the legal aspects and the consequences of various cyber laws. “We could directly take legal actions, but creating a group like this gives a platform to discuss it in a peaceful way, and it has been functioning like we expected,” Adhikari told Republica Online.  

In a conversation with Republica Online, actress Reecha Sharma also shared her story. A few YouTube channels had posted videos of her mother’s funeral, which is supposed to be a private matter. However, on requesting the channels through this group, the videos were removed.

As per the law, privacy refers to the right of individuals to withhold the information that they may be unwilling to disclose to the public. This often relates to personal information, which includes addresses, family relations, romantic relationships or similar information that can be used to identify the individual and events in their personal lives. “Social media is all about putting one’s opinion but there’s a fine line for everything,” Sharma told Republica Online, adding, “Dealing with negative comments often deteriorates an individual’s mental health”.

Although the privacy of celebrities is often overlooked, it is recognized by laws in various countries. Also, the act of posting negative contents directed towards public figures goes against the ‘defamation law’ commonly known as libel or slander.

Electronic Transaction Act, 2006 has specific provision regarding cyber harassment and cyber bullying against women. Section 47 of the Act prohibits any kind of bullying or harmful content against women online. Any person who does so is punishable by up to 5 years of imprisonment.

Other general law related to libel and slander is in section 307 of Muluki Criminal Code, 2017. “A person who commits, or causes to be committed, libel shall be liable to a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine not exceeding twenty thousand rupees or the both sentence”, said Prabin Subedi, Advocate.

“Provided that if libel is committed or, caused to be committed, by means of electronic or other means of mass communication, there shall be imposed an additional sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees in addition to such punishment”, he added.

Several other people told Republica Online that they intend to join the group. Sampada Malla, a writer and filmmaker, has been holding a talk show named ‘Lockdown Rendezvous with Sampada’. The show invites distinguished Nepali personalities from various fields to share their experience of the lockdown, along with their personal stories. But in a particular episode that featured politician Gagan Thapa and his wife Anjana KC, most people took on comments to criticize KC for calling Thapa ‘timi’ instead of ‘hajur’. Malla then decided to stand up against cyber attacks targeting women.

Subedi believes that such kind of sexual harassment and bullying is growing because people do not report about it. “Celebs are considered as role model for many people and if they start with this cause, this will certainly give right message to the society”, he said.

Actress Keki Adhikari is also a member of the group. “I realized the importance of an initiative like this after reading news in a Reddit community that had been sexualizing, humiliating and objectifying women by collecting pictures from their social media accounts,” Adhikari said. “After reading the news, I realized that it is not just female public figures who have to deal with sexual, humiliating and myogenic comments, but it is a problem that every female has been facing in this society,” she said.

It has just been a week since this group was started, but the members are inspired by the outcomes so far. Adhikari says that the group was initially created as a ‘private group’ because it would be difficult to filter posts or comments. “Making it a public group would rather make it hard for us to filter the content. We want to make it as clean as possible,” she said. However, after seeing how this group is marching ahead, the members are looking forward to turning it into a public platform where they can discuss issues more broadly.   

 
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