Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch has registered nine cases in a month and arrested eight people, including a woman, over alleged online harassment, blackmail and the circulation of manipulated images and videos of women. Police have also initiated legal action against three juveniles in connection with fake social media accounts and altered Garba videos.
The action was taken under Mission Cyber Rakshika, an initiative focused on women’s online safety. According to Nav Gujarat Samay, the accused allegedly created fake Instagram and Facebook accounts, altered women’s photographs and videos, added obscene text and circulated the material to damage their reputations.
Police traced suspects in different districts of Gujarat as well as in Maharashtra. The investigation found that some accused allegedly used videos of women playing Garba during Navratri to increase followers and likes on social media. The videos were reportedly edited before being uploaded to Instagram with abusive or objectionable writing.
In other cases, police said fake accounts were created in women’s names following personal disputes or the breakdown of relationships. The accounts were allegedly used to send obscene content to the women’s relatives, friends and fiancés. The reported aim was to damage their reputations or create pressure within their families.
The cases also included an alleged attempt to break an engagement by sending obscene content to a woman’s fiancé. The report said a Class 12-educated accused sent the material without the woman’s knowledge. In another case, a woman was allegedly targeted with a false social media post claiming that she had a personal relationship with another person. Police linked that incident to an earlier dispute over a vehicle collision.
Another accused allegedly created a fake Facebook account in a woman’s name and posted objectionable content along with a demand for money. In a separate case, police said a man contacted a woman through Instagram, pressured her to enter into a physical relationship and threatened to defame her after she refused. He allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh and later collected Rs 1.21 lakh by claiming that he regretted his conduct and needed money for a religious ritual. The report said Rs 21,000 was transferred through Google Pay and Rs 1 lakh was withdrawn from an ATM in Prahladnagar.
Police also initiated action against three juveniles from Sabarkantha and Bhavnagar. They allegedly used their parents’ mobile numbers to create fake social media accounts and circulated altered videos of women playing Garba.
The Cyber Crime Branch said women officers assisted with counselling in the cases. The identities of the complainants were kept confidential and cases were registered promptly, according to the report. The police action is intended to deter online harassment and strengthen women’s confidence in reporting digital abuse. The report did not specify the legal sections applied in each case or provide details of the next stages of prosecution.
