Amid the uproar on social media over some girl students being allegedly videographed secretly by students from another community, the Udupi police on Tuesday, July 25, clarified that they found no evidence of the allegations being made online, and warned people against spreading the misleading information.
The controversy erupted on July 24, when some social media user claimed that the incident had taken place a private nursing home in Karnataka’s Udupi district. It was being alleged that some girl students from the minority community had secretly made videos of other ‘girls in washroom’ and shared them with their male counterparts.
Subsequently, several right-wing organisations and their supporters took to social media, claiming that the girls who were videographed had been depressed and disturbed to the extent that they were contemplating self-harm/suicide. The incident was even linked to the ‘The Kerala Story’.
However, speaking to the media, Udupi Superintendent of Poice (SP) Hakay Akshay Machhindra revealed that the claims being made on social media were circulated with an intention of disturbing communal harmony, and were totally misleading.
“There’s a lot of confusion as many people are sharing misinformation on social media. I am here to clarify that no video was made or shared with anyone. Many have claimed that a hidden camera was installed inside the restroom. No such thing has come to our attention,” the SP said.
He further added that the one of the supposed victims has informed the nursing home authorities that they don’t wish to file any complaint.
“She has written to the institute, saying that she was acquainted with the accused and the video was deleted immediately,” the officer said.
On the other hand, some local BJP leader accused the Udupi police of harassing the family of Rashmi Samant for raising her voice against the incident. Samant was among the first to make the allegations on social media, which, according to police, turned out to be ‘misleading’.
Shortly after the police press meet over the issue, Udupi MLA Yashpal Suvarna of the BJP claimed that private videos of women were shot and shared widely.
Defending Rashmi Samant, he accused Udupi police of raiding her house and harassing her over “raising her voice about the case”.
Moreover, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also tweeted about the incident and accused the newly-elected Congress government of ‘supporting the tyranny’.
“Our Udupi MLA is seized with the situation. Shri CT Ravi, national general secretary, is in touch with them. The state unit is in touch with the girls and Rashmi. We stand with our cadre and supporters against the tyranny of the Congress Govt in Karnataka (sic),” he tweeted.
According to The News Minute report, the chairman of the nursing home stated action was taking against the three (accused) girl students for violating the ban on mobile phones on the campus.
(With inputs from agencies)
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