Woman ends life over morphed photos on FB

CHENNAI: A 21-year-old woman from Tamil Nadu’s Salem district committed suicide on Monday after a morphed photograph depicting her in a state of undress surfaced on Facebook last week.

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Her father, a weaver from Elampillai, had lodged a complaint soon after the photograph was posted on the social networking site on June 23. Though police questioned a youngster from the same village in this connection, he was let off later. “We questioned a suspect after he was named by the family, but found that he was not involved,” Salem superintendent of police Amit Kumar Singh said.

Following this, investigators sought more time to nab the culprit with help from the cyber crime department.

However, another morphed photograph of the woman — this time carrying her father’s mobile phone number as a footnote — cropped up again on Sunday. Unable to bear the humiliation, she hanged herself from the ceiling fan while her parents were away. The body was taken to a nearby government hospital, where doctors confirmed her death.

Meanwhile, police have requested Facebook to remove the morphed photographs.

“The page was blocked earlier, but the image surfaced again on Sunday – tagging her as well,” said Singh.“We are waiting for Facebook to share IP address data with us.” He, however, expressed confidence that “an arrest would be made in the next 48 hours”.

Though the victim’s family had initially refused to take her body from the hospital mortuary until the culprit was arrested, they relented after the superintendent of police promised swift action.

The victim’s father, however, maintained that police apathy was the main reason for her suicide.

According to sources, the woman’s family was in the process of seeking matrimonial alliances for her when the morphed photographs surfaced. A chemistry graduate, she was reportedly hunting for a job.