He was bored during the COVID-19 lockdown in India, so to “pass time,” an 18-year-old boy created the now infamous Instagram group, the ‘Bois Locker Room’. Yesterday, Delhi police arrested the admin of the private Instagram group that is at the center of a social media storm, for sharing nude pictures of underage girls, and lewd discussions about their bodies.
Purported screenshots of the Instagram group chat were leaked on Instagram by two teen girls, on May 3. This led to a crackdown of the #BoisLockerRoom group. Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Neeraj Thakur confirmed that the alleged group admin has been arrested. Reportedly, the 18-year-old who has not been named, was arrested from his Noida home, after police identified and questioned other group members on May 5 and 6.
After his arrest, the admin, who recently gave his class 12 board exams, reportedly, told the police that initially the conversations were about their daily routine, but the nature of the chat changed when one of the members posted the photo of a girl. This led to sexually explicit comments and more photos of girls being posted, including morphed ones.
Police investigation and action
During their investigation, the police found that there are 26 members in their group, but nine of them had actively posted pictures and passed lewd comments. They are from four South Delhi schools and a Noida school.
The article further quoted a senior officer who said: “The apprehended juveniles have not yet been produced before the juvenile justice board because of the lockown. They all have been sent with their parents, who have assured us that they will not leave the city.”
Phones of all these members have been seized and sent for forensic analysis.
Police has also asked Instagram for more information. “We are awaiting their report. The devices of the identified members of the group have been seized and sent for forensic analysis. The role of other members is being ascertained,” an official said.
Screenshots probed for authenticity
Referring to the viral screenshots, the officer said: “We are also probing the alleged role of a girl and claims that some of the screenshots were edited. We are verifying all facts and things will get clearer as the probe progresses.”
According to Indian news site, the Indian Express, the 21-year-old, who leaked the conversations to girls who were being discussed there said: “A minor boy I know was added to the group even though he didn’t know anyone. He saw the photos and the comments and decided to leave the group, but only after taking screenshots.”
Adding that one of the girls whose photos were shared is a close friend, he said: “We tracked down 10 girls, most of them minors, and told them about the group and all that was happening there.”
Bollywood celebrities react
Bollywood celebrities have also expressed shock over the mindset of the teenage boys.
Actress Sonam Kapoor took to her Instagram story and wrote: "This reeks of entitlement and gross negligence on parents' part. The parents are to be blamed for raising sons who don't respect human beings and spoiling them. And, boys you should be ashamed."
Gully Boy actor Siddhant Chaturvedi also reacted to the case by posting a photo on Instagram calling such locker rooms ‘viruses’. He wrote: "Extreme Red zones. Disgusting."
Enraged by the controversy, actress Swara Bhasker said that hanging rapists is not enough. She tweeted: "#boislockerroom a telling tale of how toxic masculinity starts young! Underage boys gleefully planning how to rape & gangrape minor girls. Parents and teachers must address this with those kids... Not enough to 'hang rapists' ... we must attack the mentality that creates rapists!" https://twitter.com/ReallySwara/status/1257520858915954689
Taking to Twitter, actress Richa Chadha questioned the lack of sex education in India and how teenagers confuse porn with it. She tweeted: “This a multi-faceted problem. Because everyone is still squeamish about sex education in our populous/moralistic country, teenagers are confusing porn for sex education! And now data is free. How dangerous! This will explode in our faces in the next five years sadly, I reckon.”
Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor's wife Mira Rajput also reacted by sharing journalist Rega Jha's essay, which speaks about consent, gender quality and more. "Teach your sons that they aren’t entitled to any woman’s body, attention, or time," wrote Jha.
Gurugram suicide linked to another case
Meanwhile, a Gurugram teen’s suicide that was earlier being probed for links with the #BoisLockerRoom, is now being probed for a different case of molestation that took place two years ago.
On Monday, a 17-year-old boy allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the 11th floor of his apartment building in Gurgaon. Reportedly, the police have said that one of the angles they are probing are social media posts by a girl who had raised allegations of being molested two years ago.
According to Deepak Kumar, Station House Officer (SHO) of Sector 53 police station, said: “We have come across some screenshots and are probing the matter.”
Before the boy committed suicide, two screenshots had emerged on social media of a girl, naming him and alleging that she had been molested two years ago in the basement of her building. The girl’s Instagram account has now been deleted.
