Clubhouse app: Three arrested from Haryana for being part of chat room targeting women

Police said the three accused arrested from Haryana have been identified as Akash Suyal (19), Jaishnav Kakkad (21) and Yashkumar Parashar (22) who were on clubhouse under the names of Kira XD, @jaishav and pradhan@haryana_alla.

Suyal is an HSC student from Karnal district in Haryana and was the alleged moderator of the two chatrooms on the app while Kakkad and Parashar are B.Com and law student respectively and were arrested from their residence in Faridabad.

Officials said Suyal and Kakkad created the two chat rooms on January 16 and 19 under the names “Muslim women are better then Hindu women” and “Girls don’t have privileged to marry upper caste woman” respectively on an open forum and the chat room had more than 300 participants.

“Suyal and Kakkad, along with a few other participants, were making derogatory comments about women. They also spoke about auctioning their body parts while Kakkad made remarks about raping women,” said an officer.

The incident came to light when videos of the purported conversations in the chat room were shared on social media that subsequently went viral.

An investigator said, “After the video reached a 30-year-old woman working with an IT firm, she informed us that something similar had happened two months ago as well.”

In her police statement, the complainant alleged that on October 27 and November 27 last year, the participants of a chat room created by Parashar abused and auctioned her and her friend’s body parts.
“One of her friends video-shot the incident and shared it with her after which she reportedly complained to Clubhouse authorities but apparently nothing came of it,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Rashmi Karandikar (cyber).

When a similar video went viral on Wednesday, she approached the cyber cell unit at Bandra Kurla Complex following which an FIR was registered under sections 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two groups) 295 (a) (deliberate acts to outrage religious feelings) 354 (a) (sexual harassment), 354 (d) (stalking), 500 (defamation), 509 (insulting modesty of a woman) of the IPC and section 67 of IT Act 2000.

“Tracing them was difficult as they had masked their identity and location. Technical investigation led us to them and we are in the process of getting them to Mumbai,” said Karandikar. They are also trying to identify and trace others in the chat room. “We have zeroed in on three other suspects,” said an officer.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police Cyber Cell questioned a man from Lucknow for allegedly creating the group. They believe the 19-year-old also made derogatory remarks in the chat room. Police sources said teams have also been sent to four states to question others in connection with the case.

A senior police officer from the Cyber Cell told The Indian Express: “A team went to the student’s house late last night. We are questioning him. He is denying his involvement but we have technical evidence that he used a fake ID and created the group where he and 4-5 others made vulgar comments.”

Cyber Cell officials said they have sent notices to the US-based company seeking details of the users/organisers of the group, and have also sent a notice to Google Play Store to “keep a check” on such apps.

Delhi Police have also registered an FIR in the matter and had earlier identified 4-5 suspects as the ‘main speakers’.

A Clubhouse spokesperson said, “There is absolutely no place for hate or abuse on the platform. We invest significantly in keeping our community safe and take swift action against any violation of our policies… If and when a violation of our Community Guidelines is reported and confirmed, swift action is taken…In this instance, the room was reported and those involved in organising were quickly actioned…”

(With inputs from ENS, New Delhi)