The world of rising e-transactions now faces the challenge of ‘e-rape’!!
The conversations in the chat of the recently written about, ‘Bois Locker Room’ group, have come out in the open, and are ‘terrifying’, to say the least, not just for the derogatory and sexually aggressive content, but also for contemplating the successful execution of a ‘rape’! These ‘school-going’ boys have also reported to have regularly exchanged photos of minor girls, using abusive language for them, while making targeted sex-jokes, objectifying and disrespecting the female gender.
Background
Bois Locker Room was a Delhi-based Instagram group in which obscene messages and allegedly morphed images of under-age girls were shared.
The participants of the chat-platform were teenage boys from Delhi, most of them from 11th and 12th standard, who allegedly posted lewd and objectionable content regarding minor girls. The ‘admin’ of the group was an 18-year old school-boy, who has been arrested by the Cyber Crimes Cell of Delhi Police. The police recorded statements of six student-members of this notorious group. Two of them were found to be adults.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, seeking a probe into this by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Around this time, a Gurugram-boy, suspected and alleged to have been a part of this group on Instagram, was targeted by way of a ‘#MeToo’ post by a minor girl (apprehended later!).
This girl had made false allegations of ‘sexual assault’ against the deceased through a fake SnapChat account. She had created a fake profile by the name of ‘Siddharth’ to get into a conversation with the deceased, apparently to ‘test his values and character’!!
Swati Maliwal, DCW Chief strictly condemned this girl’s actions and demanded immediate legal proceedings to be taken against her.
At present, the status of this matter has been that the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi directed Delhi Police to expeditiously probe into it and sought a response from the Centre on a plea seeking removal of such groups of ‘unlawful nature’ from social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, for greater safety of children on the internet.
Relevant Legal Provisions
Ss. 66E, 67, 67A & 67B of IT Act, 2000;
Ss. 292, 354C, 463, 465, 469, 471, 503, 507, 509 of IPC, 1860;
S. 42A of POCSO Act, 2012
Conclusion
Though the case is at the investigation-stage yet, and the minors are being probed by the police in presence of NGOs and the concerned minors’ guardians, still it seems that many youngsters in India, the country that boasts of the highest youth-population in the world, still has a long way to go in terms of value-instilment and responsible ‘netizen’ behavior.
This is the time for all authorities to work hand-in-hand, be it the Panchayat or the Hon’ble President, the ruling party or the opposition, the ‘aam aadmi’ or the ‘who’s who’!
Let’s wait to see whether social cohesion and coordinated efforts of all are able to bring requisite shifts in the mindset of young boys and girls. Or is it only the judiciary that could condemn such incidents by creating/modifying/regulating the scenario?
Sincerely hope to be witness to a generation of sensitized and well-trained police-officers who enforce the law smoothly – preventing another NIRBHAYA case-tragedy to be in the pipeline!!...
By SAKSHI SINGH (Thakur Ramnarayan College of Law, Mumbai)
