Class-9 boy apprehended for sharing AI-morphed images of girl schoolmates
The boy, 13, who faces a case under Sections 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc
A Class-9 boy of a leading private school of the city was apprehended for sharing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-morphed obscene images of nine of his schoolmates on a private Snapchat group on Friday
The boy, 13, who faces a case under Sections 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form) of the IT Act and Section 13 of Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, has been sent him to a juvenile home.
A senior police officer privy to the investigations said that the boy, hoping to be noticed and unaware of the legal implications, ended up on the wrong side of the law.
“The phone, believed to have been used for morphing the girl students’ images, has been seized. It will be sent to the forensic laboratory for analysis and recovery of data,” the cop shared. The teenager is learnt to have deleted the account after the matter escalated.
As per the FIR, a fake Snapchat account, in the name of one of the girls, was created to share the images altered with the help of an AI software. The said girl’s parents had intimated the police on October 10 after learning of the matter.
Following this, parents of the other affected girls had also come together and submitted a joint complaint to senior superintendent of police Kanwardeep Kaur, who ordered an FIR and immediate probe.
The cyber cell had written to Snapchat for assistance in tracking the IP address from which the activities were carried out. Further, all the objectionable content was taken down from the platform. It is suspected that the girl students’ pictures were taken from the school’s student portal.
Speaking about the developments, superintendent of police (cyber) Ketan Bansal said, “Children are the most susceptible to cybercrimes. There is an urgent need to hold awareness programmes in schools and educational institutions to sensitise students about the dangers lurking online and ways to stay safe.”
SSP Kanwardeep Kaur underlined the importance of promptly reporting crimes and said, “We need to speak freely with children and make them aware of these issues. Crime of any kind should be reported without fear. The mindset of not reporting of crime needs to be changed to ensure safety.”
CCPCR seeks updates on counselling sessions
A panel of the Chandigarh Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR) visited the school premises on Friday and spoke to the management. Chairperson Shipra Bansal said that while they found that everything in the school was in order, they have instructed authorities to coordinate with the parents and the police. The school counsellors have also been directed to provide timely updates on their sessions with aggrieved students. They have also asked the police to submit a probe update.