Boys locker room: A chat group on Instagram glorifying gang rape; conversation leaked on social media
DELHI: An incident exposing a chat group on Instagram named as “boys or bois locker room” as well as a group on Snapchat repeatedly objectifying girls, morphing their images and passing lewd comments shocked the netizens. A Twitter user shared a series of disturbing tweets, screenshot of the Snapchat conversation of such a group claiming that the boys are Delhi-based school-going students. There was a tone of panic and disgust in the user’s tone.
A girl, who knows these guys tweeted, “A group of south delhi guys aged 17-18 types have this ig(instagram) gc(group chat) named “boy’s locker room” where they shit on, objectify and morph pictures of girls their age. 2 boys from my school are a part of it. MY FRIENDS AND I ARE FREAKING OUT THIS IS SO EWWW AND NOW MY MOM WANTS ME TO QUIT IG”
She further went on to share screenshots of the alleged participants of the group and many other users came forward and identified the boys. The debate about rape culture being normalised has been on, yet there is no significant improvement in the brutal rapes reported in India as well as worldwide
The cops are reportedly investigating the matter. According to information circulating on Instagram and Twitter, Shubham Singh, whose IG bio says he is a cyber investigator and advisor to government agencies has also started looking into the matter.
What is even more disturbing is the fact that another chat group named ” BoissLockerroom 2″ was made soon after being exposed with an audacity to restart the heinous acts with fake usernames. This simply highlights the pathetic mental state of such anti social elements in our society irrespective of their age as well as the condition of Law & order in the society. With no fast track justice in rape cases and such crimes in the country, there is no sense of fear among the people while committing such crimes.
According to Amnesty International, in India, research has shown that increasing access to the internet has resulted in more and more women facing online violence and abuse for participating in public life and sharing their opinions on social media platforms. In the recent past, journalists like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghosh and Rana Ayyub, student leaders like Shehla Rashid, and actors like Swara Bhaskar have faced online abuse, for merely expressing their opinions online whereas women politicians in India receive on average 113 problematic or abusive tweets per day, including threats and badgering. Seeing even the most prominent of the personalities being subjected to such viciousness, it ignites concern for the ones who have been silenced into accepting it as a con of having access to social media.