'Full Stop To Cyber Bullying': How 'Mission Josh' Is Putting End To Online Harassment Virus

As the internet becomes an increasingly important part of human existence and a critical space for marginalized populations to make their voices heard, more during a global pandemic, a woman's inability to feel safe online hampers her freedom and basic human rights. Also, online, it only magnifies. The fact is online harassment is not just restricted to a certain gender or age group. Children, Men, Teenagers (both Boys and Girls) fall victims to online harassment.

With the lockdown there has been a huge rise in the number of cyber bullying and harassment cases. Yet the problem of online violence and harassment is overlooked in discussions of violence. The need to create awareness as well as to instil the right education about the laws and consequences of online harassment has become so important.

Mission Josh is a pragmatic & constructively driven community that believes in creating positive impact with change-making campaigns & a message that creates a wave of massive value. Each initiative aims to highlight various topics while adding light to each cause. Mission Josh has been working towards creating a wave of happiness & positive uplifting content since more than 4 years and has become a community of change makers who celebrate the Joy of Sharing Happiness.

Mission Josh's aim is to highlight the subject and have interactions on social platforms with Sonakshi Sinha along with Cyber Experts, Lawyers, Relevant Govt. Officials and most importantly Victims of Online Harassment. The idea is to focus on the bigger picture with the overall approach towards cyber bullying, creating awareness & making an impact by raising the voice for online bullying & trolling.

The Campaign is launched with the motive to make a difference and put an end to online harassment and abuse that has been faced by every other person on various social media platforms. The goal is to bring more awareness towards the subject and various important aspects so that the trollers, harassers, bullies are aware about the consequences as well as legal actions that can be taken against them on committing any kind of Cyber harassment while sitting behind the screen. The founders of Mission Josh, Mansi Dhanak & Vinav Bhanawat came up with the idea to cater to the need of the hour with the Campaign #IndiaAgainstCyberBullying.

Special IGP of Maharashtra Pratap Dighavkar has always believed in making a difference and strongly feels to raise awareness regarding online harassment with Mission Josh, and is quite positive to team up with Actress Sonakshi Sinha to together put full stop to Cyber bullying and trolls.

Actress Sonakshi Sinha has been a victim of trolls and online harassment for the longest time. The abuses were beyond one's control, hence it was about time to talk about the subject. Sonakshi Sinha teamed up with Mission Josh to put a full stop to the pandemic that's plaguing our online world- Cyber Bullying and harassment.

The quantum is very evident in the case of Moira Sachdev. She was brave enough to get onboard with Mission Josh and share her entire journey from being harassed to an extent that she chose to end her life and how she survived through help of her family and intense therapy. Moira has been a victim where she was brutally body shamed by her class mates on Instagram group where four girls shared some personal images if Moira and made fun about her vitals in harsh manner. Soon after Moira kept being bullied and a class mate posted a story of Moira's picture on IG with insensitive comments which eventually led to Moira slitting her wrist and undergoing severe depression thereafter.

Moira now wants to help other victims by opening up about her story. She forgave her bullies as their parents appealed Moira's family to not take this in court to save their future and career. Moira is comfortable to talk about the entire mental trauma for second episode. Ritesh and Nirali Bhatia, Founder of CyberBaap who're the experts in our first two episodes. They also helped Moira to speak up about what she faced at such a young age and can inspire other victims especially from her age bracket to come forward and talk about it.

Sonakshi adds, with the advent of social media, there has been an explosion of personal opinions on public forums. While the idea was a democratic one, where the platform provided was intended to ignite healthy communication and be social while being present virtually, the modern history of social networks isn't one of triumph. People say horrible things to each other, and the anonymity of forums and encouragement from similar minds have made it a common occurrence. People are mercilessly criticised for their views and often the critiques are personal - religion, race, class, gender, profession and even looks are all picked on.

Cyber bullying takes many forms - sending, posting or sharing insensitive and malicious content about someone privately or in public groups, sending threats, leaking identifying information or sharing embarrassing content, it all keeps happening around us and makes a severe impact of mental health.

The Logical Indian appreciates and supports Mission Josh in bringing an end to cyber bullying. Together we can create a safe space where online trolls and laws related to cyber bullying could benefit our community members.

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