The Udupi police registered a suo motu case on Wednesday, July 26 against three Muslim women studying in a paramedical college for recording a video of a Hindu student in the restroom. The FIR stated that the incident occurred on July 18 at the Netra Jyothi College of Optometry and Paramedical Science where three women - Alfiya, Aleema and Shabnaaz - intended to record one of their Hindu friends in the restroom and inadvertently recorded another Hindu student. The FIR said that the three women who recorded the video apologised to the student and deleted the video immediately. The mobile phones of the three women were confiscated by the college management a day later on July 19.
“On July 18, around between 2.30 and 3.00 pm, Student ‘A’, who is in the second year diploma in Operation Theatre course, went to the college washroom. At the time, her friends from the second year Diploma in Optometry, Alfiya, Aleema and Shabnaaz, went to make a video of A. Accidentally, instead of A, they made a video of Student ‘B’ who is a second year diploma student in Operation Theatre. Once it came to student B’s notice, in her presence, the video was deleted and an apology was given. On July 19, the college management confiscated three mobile phones,” reads the FIR.
The FIR further stated that the college management held a press conference on July 25 reporting that the three students had confessed to making a video and were later suspended by the college authorities. “This has come to my attention, and since this is a suspicious crime, I am filing this complaint with the intention of finding out the truth against the students and the management board, who shot a private video of the woman on their mobile phone and deleted it immediately,” the police said.
The police have also registered a second FIR against a Twitter user named Kalu Singh Chouhan who shared a news video, by One India Kannada on the Udupi issue. “Kalu Singh Chouhan was spreading fake news and creating communal tension," a police statement said.
(The video story by One India Kannada showed footage from a Tamil video which was made to create awareness among women about hidden cameras. Link).
I downloaded this video from @OneindiaKaVideo! It's their fault! All other information is 100% true! Till today I have never spread false news! I share information based on truth and facts and will continue to do so!
— Kalu Singh Chouhan (@kscChouhan) July 24, 2023
YouTube channel link https://t.co/ig7qomRMJP pic.twitter.com/dRTlDRJzge
In the past week, many right-wing groups and BJP leaders have spread misinformation on social media that nude videos of hundreds of Hindu women were being circulated to Muslim men as part of a larger Jihadi conspiracy. On July 25, Udupi Superintendent of Police Hakay Akshay Machhindra had said that there was no hidden camera placed inside the restroom and that they had not found any evidence of the video being shared with others.
The case against the three women was registered under sections 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 204 (destruction of document or electronic record to prevent its production as evidence) and 175 (omission to produce document to public servant by person legally bound to produce it) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of Indian Penal Code and Section 66 (e) (punishment for violation of privacy) of Information Technology Act.
Udupi MLA Yashpal Suvarna and Mangaluru City North MLA Bharat Shetty had condemned the incident and sought police investigation. Yashpal had reiterated that private videos of Hindu women were shot by Muslim women and were being shared with ‘anti-social forces’.