A public interest litigation (PIL) has been moved in Delhi High Court seeking a SIT or CBI investigation into the case related to 'Bois Locker Room' social media group, in which a bunch of schoolboys allegedly shared objectionable pictures of minor girls and discussed techniques of raping women.
The PIL, filed by Dev Ashish Dubey through advocates Dushyant Tiwari and Omprakash Parihar on Friday, sought protection for the girls and women who called out the alleged criminal activities in the social media group. The plea is likely to be heard by the court on May 13.
The petition said that screenshots from an Instagram group called "Bois Locker Room" were shared by social media users, which revealed chats between a group of school students from Class 11 and 12 sharing photos of underage girls, followed by lurid discussions on their bodies.
It said that the group also allegedly used to share nude/morphed photographs of women.
"The group is run by and has membership of 16 to 18-year-old boys from posh schools in South Delhi, all of whom were involved in the objectification of their classmates and other women, some as young as 14 years of age," the petitin said.
It said that the expletive-laden chats show the boys discussing having physical relationship with their classmates as well as rating them on a scale of beauty.
"The obscene and objectionable pictures and vulgar comments by members of the group and once their comments came to light, instead of being apologetic or fearful, they openly threatened the girls who called them out with dire consequences, which shows that these girls might face threat such as rape, gang-rape, torture, etc," the plea said.
"The offence committed by these students through the group is illegal and amounts of violation of various laws of India. Morphing photos and sharing images of people's private parts is a violation of Section 66E of the Information Technology Act, as well as Section 354C of the Indian Penal Code," it added.
The plea claimed that the members of the group have committed several offences, including defamation, threatening women, etc, which are punishable under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
It said that the actions of these students show the mindset of the young generation towards girls and added that if it is not stopped and these people are not punished, it may lead to an increase in crime against the women in the future.
The issue needs to be investigated by SIT or CBI as these students belongs to high profile families and there is an apprehension that the investigation or enquiry conducted by the local police will be influenced and wrongdoer's will never be arrested and punished, the plea said.
( With inputs from ANI )