Digital Intimate Partner Violence in India: Towards an Integrated Socio-Legal and Data-Analytics Framework (DIGIpv)

Digital Intimate Partner Violence: Towards an Integrated Social Legal and Data-Analytics Framework Electronic victimisation used to harass, monitor, control, pressure, or coerce a partner constitutes digital intimate-partner violence (DIGIpv) (Brown & Hegarty, 2018) and includes sexting (a portmanteau of ‘sex’ and ‘texting’) and coercion (Ross, Drouin, & Coupe, 2019). The proliferation of digital technology has deepened the complexity of IPV perpetration and victimisation. Social media enables the perpetrators to be disguised and anonymous. DIGIpv is identified as using technology (such as social media and geolocation tracking) to perpetuate various forms of abuse (such as cyberstalking, revenge porn, doxing/ leaking personal content, sexting, coercion, and image morphing) with a past or present intimate partner. The purpose is to blackmail, surveil, exert control, humiliate and/or isolate the victim. Within India, limited evidence exists on the prevalence and incidence of DIGIpv. There is no national-level survey or Open Data to measure the prevalence and incidence of DIGIpv. A few studies with a small sample size (Pasricha, 2016; Sambasivan et al., 2019; Agarwal, Verma, Agarwal & Singh, 2018) and newspaper articles (Tribune, 2020; Dominique, 2020) have indicated the growing presence of DIGIpv. Available data indicates that 58% women reported facing online aggression (trolling, bullying, abuse or harassment); thus, 28% of women intentionally reduced their online presence (Pasricha, 2016). This study adopts Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Big Data Analytics to develop an in-depth understanding of the nature of violence, perpetration, and victimisation in India. The study can strengthen evidence-based research in shaping social-legal policy approaches and therapeutic practices to DIGIpv.