MUMBAI: The Instagram account of a 13-year-old girl from Santacruz East was allegedly hacked after which morphed pictures of her underage friends were circulated on social media. The Vakola police on Wednesday registered a case against an unknown person in the matter.
A complaint written by the mother of the girl, whose account was hacked, was received by the police on Thursday. It stated that all the girls live in the same neighbourhood and study in the same school. The morphed pictures of girls aged 12 and 16 were posted on the account on July 9.
“After the pictures were posted, the two girls thought my daughter was trying to defame them due to some personal enmity. However, when my daughter tried to log in to her account to delete the posts, she could not do so,” the mother said in her complaint to the police.
She added that the families of the two girls also approached her to resolve the issue after which she told them that her daughter’s Instagram account was possibly hacked.
When the girl could finally log into her account after changing the password, she removed all the objectionable posts, said the mother. “However, after that the morphed pictures started being sent to the mobile phones of some common friends and acquaintances of the girls,” said an officer from Vakola police.
{{/usCountry}}When the girl could finally log into her account after changing the password, she removed all the objectionable posts, said the mother. “However, after that the morphed pictures started being sent to the mobile phones of some common friends and acquaintances of the girls,” said an officer from Vakola police.
{{/usCountry}}Based on the statements of the mother, daughter and the families of the affected girls, the police registered an FIR in the matter on Thursday evening.
“The unknown accused has been booked under sections 354D (stalking), 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman), 500 (defamation) and 469 (forgery for the purpose of defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. They have also been charged with the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) for violation of privacy, publishing and transmitting obscene material in electric form and circulating obscene images of children,” said the officer.