Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
Navi mumbai Think twice before accepting friend request
POLICE WARN Police register 114 cases of women targeted through social media; most culprits were ex-boyfriends, colleagues or acquaintances
Twenty- year- old Anita Patil (name changed) was shocked when her elder brother told her about a video being circulated on a WhatsApp group in April last year.
Later, she learnt that the video was sent by man from Panvel with whom she was in a relationship till a few months ago.
The woman’s f ather was against the relationship and her marriage was fixed with someone else.
This was revenge her exboyfriend took for the breakup and he was arrested.
Sources from t h e N av i Mumbai cyber cell said there have been many other cases wherein different social networking sites and messaging groups have been used to defame or abuse women in the past few months.
“We re gistered 114 such cases in 2015. A majority of the cases was of ex-boyfriends, colleagues or acquaintances abusing women. I n almost every case, the accused were arrested. This year, 20 such cases have been registered,” said Pratibha Shendge, police inspector from Navi Mumbai cyber cell.
In several cases, culprits send messages to women by creating fake profiles.
“They start messaging one or several women from that profile and express an interest in them. After befriending them, they ask for their phone numbers. When they don’t get good response from other side, they start sending lewd messages and obscene photographs,” said a crime branch officer.
“Women should be careful while accepting friend requests and updating their status on social networking sites,” he said, adding that social media posts and messages can never be deleted.
“People think they can hide evidences by deleting chats. Even if they delete from their computers, we can retrieve it from the hard disc, IP company or from the service provider,” said Sangeeta Alphonso, senior police inspector of Nerul police station and former head of Pune cyber cell.
“More importantly, if anyone destroys, deletes or alters information in a computer, he can be imprisonment for three years. People are not authorised to use someone else’s account, system or internet without permission,” she added.