Amid the renewed discussion on the upbringing of boys in our society and rape culture due to the ‘Bois Locker Room’ controversy, an incident that raises similar questions has come to light from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.
A 21-year-old woman was allegedly harassed by a Class 6 student, who threatened to share her morphed photos if she did not engage in “sex chat” with him or pay him money.
The incident took place within the territorial limits of Kavi Nagar Police Station. According to the police, the affected woman and the accused boy were participants of a common student group on Telegram, a social media application. He took the woman’s contact number from there.
The affected woman, who holds a BSc degree, is a civil services aspirant. As many as 18 screenshots have been submitted by her to the police. Upon interrogation, the accused claimed that somebody had hacked his mobile phone and he had no idea about the messages.
According to the details mentioned in the complaint, the accused texted the woman for the first time on May 7, but it was regarding studies. In the initial days, he allegedly talked only about studies in an attempt to establish a rapport with her.
However, at around 3:30 am on May 17, he sent a few morphed photos of the woman and threatened her. He had sourced the pictures from her social media account and edited them, according to a report of The Times of India.
The woman got scared and switched off her phone. When her friends were not able to contact her for a few days, they called her parents and enquired about her. On being coaxed, the affected woman narrated the entire matter to her parents.
She told them that she feared that the accused might hack her mobile, morph more pictures and circulate them.
An investigating official told TOI that the accused boy and his parents have dismissed all allegations levelled by the woman. They claimed that his phone was hacked. Initial investigation revealed that the accused is 12 years old.
Police have asked the social media platform to provide information on the messages and the cyber team is also trying to trace the IP address, the official added
