Watch Video: How Unsolicited Mobile Calls Violate Human Rights

Watch Video: How Unsolicited Mobile Calls Violate Human Rights

Save me from telemarketers who send me unsolicited mobile calls

How TRAI and Airtel Fail to Stop Rogue Telemarketers

[ Video: You can click here to watch a related video. ]

By Rakesh Raman

Friends, I am Rakesh Raman. I am constantly being attacked everyday by the unsolicited calls and messages on my mobile phone made by some unscrupulous telemarketers.

I sent a representation to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communication, Government of India, my mobile service provider Airtel, and Delhi Police Cyber Crime Cell. But the perpetrators of telecrime have not yet been caught and punished.

Although Airtel is trying to help me, the unsolicited calls and messages on my mobile phone continue to come from lawless telemarketers. They want to sell me everything from a herbal remedy to reduce my weight, to oil that can help me grow my hair, to pesticides that can quickly kill insects in my home, to luxurious flats at cheap rates, to bank loans on easy terms, and whatnot.

I do not need any of the items for which these unruly telemarketers infiltrate my mobile phone and blatantly breach my privacy. As a journalist, I have been independently running multiple news sites for the past 12 years and carry out major activities as a social activist to help the vulnerable sections of the society. In order to complete my work, I have to spend on average 15 hours everyday without any break while I work alone. 

However, I am not able to focus on my work because I keep getting unsolicited calls and messages on my mobile phone throughout the day. The callous callers do not spare me even when I am sick. My professional requirements do not allow me to switch off my mobile phone or keep marking dozens of daily unwanted calls as spam. I also cannot afford to keep reporting about these cruel calls to TRAI, my telecom service provider Airtel, or other authorities as it will consume a lot of my time and resources. 

Moreover, the DND (Do Not Disturb) option that I tried is totally ineffective as the callers keep changing the phone numbers frequently. The calls that I get are not only direct voice calls but there is also a surfeit of prerecorded calls or robocalls which keep my mobile phone busy from dawn to dusk. I keep giving the details of unsolicited calls that I receive to Airtel, while I get a slew of such calls everyday.

Also, the banks, telecom service providers, and other utility service providers virtually force you to install their mobile apps on your device. Then they keep sending you messages with louder beeps even when you do not need any of them. These callers have no right to call me and disturb my peace. While they are deliberately disturbing me, they are committing a serious crime which needs to be punished by the law-enforcement agencies in the country.

I have visited the TRAI webpage on “Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC)” to get some relief for the persisting agony that I have been facing. Alas, the TRAI’s UCC webpage is full of redundant, convoluted, and confusing wordiness which disappointed me completely.

On this webpage, the TRAI is preaching everything to the poor consumer like me instead of taking a legal action against the perpetrators of telecrime who deliberately disturb the mobile users. As an analogy, TRAI is asking people to protect their belongings themselves instead of punishing the thieves.

I gather from my painful experience that TRAI and my telecom service provider Airtel are not willing to tackle the unsolicited call menace which is spreading like a pandemic disease. Thus, it can be deduced that TRAI and Airtel are complicit in this crime as they want to promote their commercial interests unscrupulously. 

As a result of this criminal telemarketing enterprise growing around me, I am experiencing a breach of my privacy, an adverse impact on my health, and a significant professional loss as I am not able to work properly for my editorial and social responsibilities.

In view of these facts, I urge TRAI, Airtel, police, and other authorities to take the following action.

Identify all the rogue telemarketers and start criminal proceedings against them for the violation of privacy laws and disturbing the peace and tranquility in the living environment of citizens. 

Prosecute rogue telemarketers for the violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India which gives every citizen the right to live in a peaceful environment. The violation of Article 21 amounts to the violation of citizens’ fundamental / human rights.

Put the names of the rogue commercial callers and their employers on the TRAI website prominently so that customers should stop any business dealings with them. 

Create a robust backend technology infrastructure to immediately detect unsolicited calls to prohibit and exclude them from the telecom network transparently.

TRAI should direct the rogue telecallers and Airtel to compensate me for the professional loss that I am suffering. The compensation amount can be decided by TRAI.

Allow mobile users to forward the unsolicited calls instantly to the TRAI or telecom service providers with the help of a feature on mobile phones. Each rogue caller thus identified must pay a fine of, say, Rs. 10,000 for each call to the TRAI and a part of this money should be paid to the called person as compensation. The miscreants who repeat the offences must be imprisoned. 

Provide me with any other relief that I deserve as a harassed mobile phone user.

Friends, I am a government’s national award winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation in New Delhi. I have also worked with the United Nations (UN) through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.