Taking cognisance of the raging controversy regarding the ‘Bois Locker Room’ Instagram group (‘Bois’ was used as a variant of the word ‘boys’), the Delhi Police on Monday said that it is looking into the matter based on the social media posts and a case has been registered under relevant sections of IT Act and other relevant IPC sections.
Delhi Police Cyber Crime Cell has taken cognisance of the matter&started probe. On basis on social media reports,a case has been registered under relevant sections of IT Act &other relevant IPC sections: DCP Cyber Cell on Delhi school boys glorifying rape on a Instagram chatroom
— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2020
Earlier, social media blew up with screenshots of a group chat called ”Bois Locker Room” in which boys from South Delhi, aged around 17-18, shared pictures of minor girls and objectified them. The group is, allegedly, one of many such groups that exist.
Mindset like those of monster teenagers in #boyslockerroom is the reason we all still need to preach feminism and stand up against the normalcy of the rape culture and slut shaming women.
Will men ever stop objectifying women in our society? https://t.co/jHOstQmN6l
— Prerna Bhardwaj (@prernabhardwaj_) May 4, 2020
DCW issues notice to Instagram and Delhi Police
Besides, the Delhi Commission for Woman (DCW) on Monday issued a notice to Instagram and Delhi Police over the glorification of rape by teenage boys in the Instagram chat group that was called the ‘locker room’. The notice read that the ‘Bois Locker Room’ (a variant of the word ‘boys’) is a private group on social media site Instagram with more than hundreds of members being part of it.
DCW chief @SwatiJaiHind
issues notice to Instagram and Delhi Police in the matter of a group named “boys locker room” being used by some miscreants to share objectionable pictures of minor girls and planning illegal acts such as rape of minor girls. #boyslockerroom pic.twitter.com/2xcGP4f9ye— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) May 4, 2020
An Instagram user by the name of Niska Nagpal was one of the first to expose the group on Instagram. Nagpal pointed out that the group has been active for quite some time and was full of images of underage women, many of whom had no idea that their images were being used.
The tweets and stories have received a lot of responses, some of the people who have commented have also identified a few boys as their classmates, schoolmates or knowns.
the members of the Boys Locker Room group have been booked under section 66A of IT Act for Cyber Bullying (mention: harassment and offensive messages) 😀 pic.twitter.com/g2Ay2lcF3s
— ️ (@crackanksha) May 3, 2020
A case was registered under section 465 (forgery), 471 (using forged document), 469 (Forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 509 (intending to insult the modesty of any woman) of the IPC and 67 and 67A of the Information Technology (IT) Act at cyber cell of Delhi police.
This is not the first time rape culture has been a widely discussed issue in India. In fact, several women and feminists on social media often complain about the toxic masculinity and inherent misogyny on display in various forms across social media.
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