Woman sent morphed nudes on Instagram, says she was told to stop using social media by cops
"Why do you post pictures on social media...You should delete your social media accounts in order to be safe." That's the advice a lawyer and two police officers in Udaipur had for a 17-year-old student who had gone to file a police report, or FIR, after being harassed online. She had been sent a picture of her face morphed onto a naked woman's body in a Direct Message (DM) on the photo-sharing site Instagram.
This account of victim-shaming has been shared by the woman's sister, Saleha Paatwala, a freelance journalist based out of Mumbai, on Facebook. The viral post has caught the attention of Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, who promises to take "immediate action."
Ms Paatwala writes how her sister received an anonymous message on Instagram. A person, who goes by the username @aryan6687, sent her a picture of her face morphed onto a naked body and threatened to post it on Facebook and tag her there.
Terrified, the young woman told her parents what happened after a few days. Her father accompanied her to a police station in Udaipur to file a complaint. After shuttling between police stations, trying to file a complaint, Ms Paatwala writes her father and sister were offered a "lecture" on using social media instead.
She says a police officer told them: "'Aap Bohra logo ko parents se bhaut azadi mili hui hai isliye ap logo ke sath ye bahut hota hai.' (Bohras have given their children a lot of freedom and that is why it happens)."
He also asked, "Why do you post pictures on social media? What he has done with you, he will do it with others as well. You should delete your social media accounts in order to be safe."
"Shouldn't they be filing cases instead of telling my sister to get off social media," asks Ms Paatwala. "More than disappointed, I am angry that, whatever happens, we end up paying the price of our freedom."
Read her entire Facebook post here:
The next day Ms Paatwala posted a similar message on Twitter, using the hashtag #HelpMeWCD.
The hashtag #HelpMeWCD is one that the Union Minister has asked people facing abuse to use while reporting a crime to her ministry on Twitter.
"Ridiculous," writes Pooja Saxena in response to the original Facebook post. "A girl has all the rights like a boy... If one should stop using social media... That disgusting guy should stop... I don't know why always people think a girl should be in her limits... Whereas there is no limit for such boys."
"The moment I started reading this, I knew it will end up blaming the girl only," writes Shubhangi Bist. "For God's sake, can't the cops see who is at fault here? Totally sick!"
"The way police handled the case from the very beginning itself is preposterous," adds Padmesh Sharma. "It also makes me feel deeply saddened for the fact that such people still exist when the nation is talking about women empowerment, gender equality and what not"
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