The Delhi Police’s Cyber cell has arrested the admin of the Instagram group ‘Bois Locker Room’ that was being used to share abusive messages and morphed images of underage girls on the social media site, officials said on Wednesday.
Police said the 18-year-old admin of the group had appeared for his Class 12 board examinations this year. Police, however, withheld the name of the arrested person, asserting that such disclosure could lead to the identification of other group members, many of whom are minors.
The admin is a student of a school in Delhi-NCR. Four other group members, who are all majors and above 18 years of age, are also now being probed, a senior police official said.
The arrested admin, created the group in the first week of April. The group expanded when he went on to add his friends and their acquaintances from other schools and the neighbourhood, said the police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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Police said they were still verifying if the motive of creating the group was to share and discuss such offensive messages and morphed photographs or whether it later led to such conversations.
The police also said that they were awaiting a response from Instagram on the accounts held by each individual and were in the process of collecting evidence.
27 members
Investigations have revealed that at least 27 members were part of the group, which was deactivated soon after screenshots of the chats came to light, the police official said.
A 15-year-old who was apprehended in connection with the case had confirmed that he was an active member of the group and had participated in sharing photographs of girls. He claimed that he had been added to the group by a friend.
So far, at least 15 members of the group have been questioned.
The juveniles, who are part of the group, are being quizzed at their homes in the presence of their parents and members of NGOs.
The devices used to engage in the “offensive and vulgar communication” had been seized from the group members, police added.
“The CyPAD unit has sought information about the alleged group and its members from Instagram,” said Anil Mittal, additional PRO of Delhi police. “Their reply is awaited. The devices of the identified members of the group have been seized and sent for forensic analysis,” he added.
Instagram had earlier said it takes the issue “very seriously”.
It had said the objectionable content featuring minor girls was removed from the platform as soon as it was made aware of it.
Information about the group came to light after a woman shared screenshots of its activities.
Following this, the group started being called out on social media.
A case under relevant sections of IT Act and IPC was registered on Monday, officials said.
Appeal to HC
Two advocates have written to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court to take cognisance of the case.
Advocates Neela Gokhale and Ilam Paridhi, in a letter to Chief Justice D.N. Patel, said the seriousness and gravity of the illegal activities of a large group of boys, discussing ways to rape and sexually harass women, including underage girls via social media platforms, had compelled them to write this letter.