A case of cyber bullying. A minor girl was blackmailed using her morphed naked pictures. Cops slut shame her and are reluctant to register an FIR. The girl wants justice.
What happens next?
It takes the police over 6 months to identify the accused. And, he still roams scot-free.
When a 17-year-old boy who used Instagram to blackmail a minor was recently identified by the Udaipur police, Saleha Paatwala finally heaved a sigh of relief. The accused morphed her sister’s face on a naked body and threatened her to talk to him.
But Saleha’s journey hasn’t been an easy one.
Also Read: #TalkingStalking: Threatened With Morphed Nudes, What Would You Do
Social media helped a lot; my Facebook post about the incident and Maneka Gandhi’s response to my tweet kicked up the process of identifying the guy. The same police, who earlier blamed my sister and father, completely changed their attitude after they got calls from Ministry of Women and Child Development.Saleha Paatwala to The Quint
Saleha was happy to see the case progress and the police take some action. On 8 August 2017, almost 6 months after they filed the complaint, she received a mail from them saying that the IP address found belongs to someone in London and the morphed photo has been removed.
I got extremely disappointed, but didn’t leave hope. My father and I continued to follow up the case because I wanted the guy who did this to get arrested.Saleha Paatwala
The Continuous Fight
The fight to find the accused was getting harder with each passing day, but Saleha’s family did not give up hope.
A month back, her father called the concerned officer to know the development. He then got to know that the police has tracked the ID and has arrested a person, who, however, in his defense said that he had lost that sim card a long time back.
Police again investigated and found out that a person from Pune was using the sim card and he made the morphed picture too. The accused was finally identified.
From the next day, my father and I started getting calls from his family and relatives asking to forgive him. They said that he is a teenage boy and asked us to take the case back. “Galti toh bacho se hi hoti hai,” one of the relatives said to me.Saleha Paatwala
“Think from a mother’s perspective,” they said. “He is just 17 year old”, were some of the concerns that the accused’s mother raised. She also said that she will punish him on her own.
After the constant calls, Saleha’s father did not want his parents to suffer so much and thought taking the case back, but Saleha did not let this happen.
“I took the case forward not just for my sister, but for each and every girl who has suffered cyber bulling, but was scared to come out and talk about it”, Saleha told The Quint.
It isn’t a mistake, it is a crime and he must be punished.Saleha Paatwala
Some Unanswered Questions
It has been almost one month, since the cops identified the accused, but he still hasn’t been caught. When we approached the officer to ask for a reason, he told us that they will arrest him in a day or two.
We know the accused and he will be caught sooner or later. A murder case came up in the last month, due to which this got delayed.Police official
He also told us that the accused has been in hiding in Pune and they have asked him to come back to Udaipur. If he doesn’t come, they will arrest him in Pune, he further told me.
(The story will be updated as the case progresses.)
For other #TalkingStalking stories, click here.
(#TalkingStalking: Have you ever been stalked? Share your experience with The Quint and inspire others to shatter the silence surrounding stalking. Send your stories to editor@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)