Bengaluru : A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against three students at a private paramedical college and the management in connection with a restroom video incident in Udupi, police said on Wednesday.
The Malpe police filed the FIR against Shabnaz, Alfia and Aleema, and the institute under sections 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 204 (destruction of 1[document or electronic record] to prevent its production as evidence), 175 (omission to produce 1[document or electronic record] to public servant by person legally bound to produce it) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 66(E) (punishment for violation of privacy) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
The incident occurred at Netra Jyothi Institute of Allied Health Sciences and the three students are in the second year of a diploma course in optometry. On July 18, the three Muslim students had recorded a video of their classmate when she was in the washroom. The incident came to light when the victim, a Hindu student, told her friends, who then formed the college management. The college management in turn informed the police and handed over the phone to the officials.
“On July 18, around between 2.30 and 3.00 pm, Student ‘A’, who is in the second year diploma in Operation Theatre course, went to the college washroom. At the time, her friends from the second year Diploma in Optometry, Alfiya, Aleema and Shabnaaz, went to make a video of A. Accidentally, instead of A, they made a video of Student ‘B’ who is a second year diploma student in Operation Theatre. Once it came to student B’s notice, in her presence, the video was deleted and an apology was given. On July 19, the college management confiscated three mobile phones,” the FIR said.
{{/usCountry}}“On July 18, around between 2.30 and 3.00 pm, Student ‘A’, who is in the second year diploma in Operation Theatre course, went to the college washroom. At the time, her friends from the second year Diploma in Optometry, Alfiya, Aleema and Shabnaaz, went to make a video of A. Accidentally, instead of A, they made a video of Student ‘B’ who is a second year diploma student in Operation Theatre. Once it came to student B’s notice, in her presence, the video was deleted and an apology was given. On July 19, the college management confiscated three mobile phones,” the FIR said.
{{/usCountry}}The FIR further stated that the college management held a press conference on July 25, and said that the three students had confessed to making the video and were later suspended by the authorities.
Soon after, the incident took a communal turn with right-wing groups claiming that the suspended students, who were Muslims, used hidden cameras to shoot private videos of Hindu girls, in order to circulate them among Muslim men as part of a “Jihadi conspiracy”. The Udupi police has however, strongly denied these claims.
“There are a lot of people sharing misinformation and rumours on social media with regard to this incident. Perhaps, they are doing this with some motive. I would like to clarify that though there were reports that there were hidden cameras, as per our information, no such thing was used in this case,” Udupi superintendent of police Akshay Machhindra clarified on Tuesday.
The Opposition BJP has condemned the incident and demanded a judicial probe into the matter.
The Malpe police on Wednesday also registered a suo Moti case against a Twitter user for allegedly peddling misinformation about the incident. A case was registered against Kalu Singh Chouhan, for sharing an edited video on Twitter uploaded on the One India Kannada YouTube channel, for disturbing communal harmony, according to police officers. Chouhan deleted the post after the Udupi police raised an objection.
“The video uploaded above is actually from a Chennai based You Tube channel *Tamil Jailer* on 13/7/23. This video has been edited with a background voice in kannada to depict that it is related to an incident in Udupi. This video has no correlation with the incident in Udupi,” the SP had tweeted on Monday.
Following outrage over the incident, the National Commission for Women (NCW) took cognizance of the matter on Wednesday. “We have taken it up. @khushsundar is going for an enquiry today,” Rekha Sharma, NCW Chairperson, tweeted.
“Heading to Udupi to look into the issue where girls were filmed in a washroom by their fellow girl college mates. It is extremely saddening to see children indulging in such activities. As a @NCWIndia member, I will be looking into the matter, speaking with the students, meeting the cops and visiting the college too. Nobody can play around with the dignity of women,” BJP leader and NCW member Khushbu Sundar tweeted.
Meanwhile, Home Minister G Parameshwara slammed the Opposition for indulging in petty politics over the incident. “There is the principal and the management committee. No complaint has been filed. The BIP should stop politicising the issue. Didn’t this happen before? They should stop indulging in petty politics.”