Women Students at Hyderabad College Allege Misuse of WhatsApp Photos; FIR Filed

The admin of the WhatsApp group allegedly morphed the display picture of a student and sent it back to her.

Women students assemble at the college on Wednesday night, raising a complaint against the misuse of their WhatsApp display pictures.

(Photo: Screengrab/The Quint)

A group of women students at Vignana Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, filed a complaint with the Ghatkesar Police on Wednesday, 4 January, alleging that their WhatsApp display pictures were misused by a person, who is yet to be identified.

What happened? Alleging that they have been receiving phone calls from unknown numbers for the past five days, the first-year B.Tech students assembled on the college premises on Wednesday night and complained to the administration that they were recently added to a WhatsApp group without their consent, a student at the institute told The Quint.

The admin of the WhatsApp group allegedly morphed the display picture of one of the students and sent it back to her, threatening her that he would make it public, the source added.

And then? Speaking to The Quint, Ghatkesar Police said, "We received a complaint from the warden of the institution, Hemanth Reddy, on Wednesday night. We have interacted with all the students concerned, and a case has been registered under Section 66 (A) (sending offensive information) of the IT Act, 2000."

The police added that the mobile phone of the victim has been collected and sent to cybercrime experts for examination. "Efforts are being made to trace the accused," they said.

Why you should read on: The source, however, alleged that the accused is suspected to be a friend of one of the students in the college.

"We think he is neither a student nor a staff at the college, but a friend of one of the students here. She may have shared the contacts with him," she added. The source further said that the accused possibly has morphed pictures of other woman students in his possession.