The controversy around #BoisLockerRoom is slowly unfolding. The Cyber Crime Cell (CCC) of the Delhi Police, on Thursday, recorded statements of six students who were part of the Instagram chat group.
All six students, are adults, and are residents of south Delhi and Noida. A senior officer in the CCC who is part of the probe said,
Their names cropped up during the questioning of the group’s administrator who was formally arrested on Wednesday. Few of them are students of elite private colleges.
During the questioning, the accused said the group started with four members who were friends with the administrators in April. Soon others joined in. It was found that while some members continuously wrote derogatory comments and posted body shaming pictures, others chose to remain silent. However, it is also true that no one objected when these demeaning comments were put out.
The entire Bois Locker Room case came out in the open after a student was “accidentally” added and he witnessed a “morphed” picture of his friend and took a screen shot. A source in CCC said the main conspirator is a teenager who was also the administrator of the now defunct IG group. He is a resident of Noida.
Following this story, independent journalist Deepika Bhardwaj spoke extensively with Haris who was one of the first to witness the chats on #BoisLockerRoom group. Bhardwaj speaks to him about the controversy, nature of images shared on the private chat, discussion and aftermath of this horrific act. Here are the excepts from her interaction. Haris says,
All the pictures shared on Locker Room were public images posted by the girls on Instagram. There were no nudes distributed or pictures morphed by the boys as being shared widely in media. These were revealing pictures posted on social media which boys shared in the group & made cheap vulgar comments while using sexually explicit language.
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He further adds,
The snapchat screenshot in which r@pe was discussed was not from Locker room chats. It was an old screenshot (authenticity of which isn’t known) that one of girls used to claim she was getting rape threats. However even though it was later clarified on the group, it got widely circulated as a chat done by boys from the locker room.
Haris also confirms that the recent Gurugram minor suicide case is not linked to boys locker room. The deceased boy was named in a post by a girl on Instagram accusing him of molestation (Read complete story at the end of this article).
Haris also shares that several boys who are now being called rapists or those planning gangrape were not at all active on the group. They were added randomly and probably did not even know they were a part of the same.
About Girls Locker Room
Girls Locker Room chats (group existed with a different name) were authentic, had almost same language used by girls while sharing – again public images of boys – commenting on their body parts and making sexually explicit comments.
Meanwhile Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief Swati Maliwal has put out a tweet yesterday stating,
Sexual objectification is NOT ACCEPTABLE, whether the perpetrator is a boy or a girl or a transgender. I strongly condemn all such acts. Police should properly investigate such matters and should book the guilty under the law regardless of their gender.
Sexual objectification is NOT ACCEPTABLE, whether the perpetrator is a boy or a girl or a transgender. I strongly condemn all such acts. Police should properly investigate such matters and should book the guilty under the law regardless of their gender.
— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) May 8, 2020
Our Take:
- Most accused involved in this case are Minors
- One must exercise rationality and restrain before outrage towards either gender
- The boys or girls involved in this act must be counselled and punished in accordance with the law and not mere social media hysteria
Watch Interview
I speak to Haris Khan – guy who got to know about #boyslockeroom & informed girls. Facts:
Pics shared on group were those shared by girls in public. There were no nudes or morphing done
Snapchat screenshot with mention of r@pe wasn’t from locker room
https://t.co/5FPSpGFuJt— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) May 9, 2020
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http://voiceformenindia.com/in-the-news/gurugram-metoo-suicide-case/
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