BOIS LOCKER ROOM: A PATHWAY OF DIGGING ITS OWN GRAVE

Social Media is a platform where Millennials share their views or create their world related to their personal life, but it differs from person to person with whom they want to share this world. On 3rd May 2020, screenshots of something known as ‘Bois Locker Room’ was extensively circulated in which obscene comments related to minor girls and morphed pictures of girls were circulated on the various social media platforms, including Instagram & Twitter. It was a private chat room of under-aged schoolboys of class 10th & 12th passing obscene, vulgar & indecent comments on pictures and morphed images of under-aged school girls shared by the members of the private group. The gand rape culture was also being glorified. The remark made for the minor girls served as a fuel to the utter disgust and fire that had already started when the participant's names of the Instagram Group Chat were revealed and people were ousting them publicly.

The alleged persons whose instagram accounts were identified through the screenshots tried to hide by deactivating their accounts but it was too late because the public was circulating those screenshots which created a chain. The vicious circle of Online Bullying, Online Sexual Harassment & Cyber Defamation once again came into light.

What started in sharing of screenshots to expose these boys resulted in a thread of other such activities like ‘Girl’s Locker Room’, ‘Reddit Threads’, 'Google Drives of Kolkata MUN Society. These cases brought back discussion on patriarchal society, conservative idealism & again feminism.

Cyber War against Humanism was again a threat and to create a line between black & white is crucial but Cyber laws deals within the shades of grey and hence the intervention of Delhi Commission for Women came to the rescue. The inhuman activities were not only a threat to society but also to a person individual. It creates an impact on the society which has to be dealt with responsibly. And to blame one another would only be resulting to Online Bullying, Online Sexual Harassment, Cyber Defamation & Depression in young people.

What Charges can be framed:

Under Indian Penal Code,

Section 465 for Forgery can be applied as it means, making a false document or a part of the document with the intent to cause harm or injury to the person by committing forgery in the form of sharing the screenshots of the girl’s profiles & their personal pictures without their consent.

Section 471 can be applied for using as genuine a forged document or electronic record and in this case the electronic record was used as a medium of the crime.

Section 469 can be applied for using forgery the purpose of harming reputation of the victim by which they were defamed.

Section 509 can be applied for outraging the modesty of a woman by using any word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a women and the evidence was all the screenshots of the chat group which were circulated.

Section 292, 293 for obscenity.

Section 500 of the IPC, which deals with defamation can also be applied.

Section 66E & 354C (Voyeurism) can be applied because Morphing & sharing pictures of girl’s private parts is a clear violation in this case.

Under Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act,

Section 4 has also been enacted of circulation of obscene literature to young persons in particular herein, the circulation of the material.

Under Information Technology Act,

Under Section 67 & 67A for transmitting obscene & sexually explicit material in electronic form which harmed the reputation of girl’s and an act was committed to harm the modesty of women.

Also, Article 19(2) of the Indian Constitution allows freedom of speech and expression to be restricted on the grounds of public decency and morality. Obscenity is not protected under public decency and morality is not protected. Hence, the screenshots shared in the public though it is done in private yet violate this Article because it adds to the evidentiary value of this case.

Boy’s Locker Room Screenshots were shared on 1st May 2020, and the public outrage took a troll for 2 days and on 4th May 2020, the FIR under Section 154 of The Code of Criminal Procedure & also the Legal notice is being given to Instagram was filed.

Irrespective of the fact they were minor, strict actions were also taken in the lockdown and within a day, the accused 15-year old is in custody. The group constituted of 50 members and Delhi Police Cyber Cell identified 26 members between classes 10th & 12th of prominent Delhi Public School. Although the participants deleted their account on the Instagram yet under Instagram guidelines it is stated up to 90 days i.e. 3 months, they can recover their information which was commendable on behalf of the Delhi Police Cyber Cell.

The suo moto cognizance taken by the Delhi Police Cyber Cell after the intervention of Swati Maliwal, Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women was commendable in these times and gives a hope to the public at large that there still hope in the Indian Judiciary System & in a space where everything is unpredictable. Delhi Police Cyber Cell found out all the information regarding these accounts like name, address, email id, phone number of these boys to locate them. The boys have been booked under Section 66E of the IT Act was Cyber Bullying & Violation of Privacy and also Swati Maliwal, Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women also gave the notice that if people are part of such activity then they would be punished, can report such activities directly calling on helpline i.e., 181 & the mail id is livingpositive@gmail.com & people should not be involved in such obscene activity. The activities related to such crimes on social networking sites are now under the radar of Delhi Police Cyber Cell. Delhi Police Cyber Cell has been asked to conduct a probe & submit a response regarding it by 8th May 2020 to Facebook-owned Instagram. The parent’s reaction regarding such activities was shell shocked and they were taken aback by the reaction of their children.

Lastly, the situation like this should never exist in the first place and if did then it’s high time we should not be blindfolded to the education-related to sex. Sex Education is important in India because it will not only change the mentality of the people but also widen the horizon of the closed minds. Another major problem would be the elder people regarding it as a taboo in the society which creates a problem for the younger mind to address it in front of them. A permanent change is required in the society by which the minds of the younger people can see the changed positive society. The educational institutions should create a safe background for young minds to be developed. Another sensation movement of #Metoo which was circulated in 2018 resulted in an outburst of the people and hence the terms like Online Bullying, Online Sexual Harassment & Cyber Defamation should be discussed in public to know the cons of this and these activities should also be taken into seriousness. Also, the Cyber Laws in India should be so strict that these crimes should not prevail in the first place & every person should think twice before harming the society.

This article is co-authored by Somya Dwadash Shreni & Srishti Verma