Protests at Chandigar University began on Saturday on the university campus and online, after rumors of videos of some students being shared on social media. It was claimed that the student who took the video shared these videos with her boyfriend. Both the university and Punjab police denied this claim.
Police officials announced on Sunday that they only found a video of himself on this student’s phone.
But the police announced that this student, her boyfriend and another man were detained on charges of sharing private photos of others without their consent.
Rupinder Bhatti, the senior police official who headed the special investigation team formed for this incident, said: “Investigation continues and suspect’s phone has been sent for forensic investigation” said.
Bhatti also denied the newspaper report, which was attributed to unnamed police officials and alleged that a second video of another female student was found on the suspect’s phone.
The students ended their protest after some of their demands were accepted by the university administration on Sunday night. However, the incident is among the most talked about topics on social media and many unconfirmed information and claims were shared.
The cyber-law expert Pawan Duggal said the incident reflects the challenges universities and other institutions face in dealing with misinformation spreading online.
duggal, “A practical approach is needed. Closing universities is not the solution” said.
Speaking to the BBC, students at the university said they were under great pressure and were disappointed with the way the university had handled the case.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE UNIVERSITY
The protests, which started on Saturday evening and grew the next day, suddenly came to the fore in the country.
Speaking to the BBC, one of the students, Shikha (who asked for her name to be changed), said she saw a group of students running out of the dorm on Saturday evening.
A friend of his, who entered his room in a panic, said that he heard that a student whose video was uploaded to the internet had committed suicide.
Shikha explained that when they went downstairs to see if this was true, they encountered a huge scene of chaos, some girls screaming and the crowd was getting bigger.
Another friend of hers said that some students were videotaped while they were taking a bath in the neighboring building. This is what started the protests.
Thereupon, the university released a statement and “No student found the video. Only one female student has a personal video that she shared with her boyfriend” said.
But Shikha and four other students told the BBC they believed the university and police were trying to cover it up.
As the protests continued, rumors began to spread on the Internet.
In some messages on Twitter, it was claimed that some students attempted suicide.
In one of these messages, images of a female student being carried to the ambulance on a stretcher were shared.
However, the university and police said he was hospitalized after he had an “anxiety attack” and fell ill.
In some messages on Twitter, those who have it were asked not to share these videos.
So far, no one has said that they have a video. There is no video shared on social media yet.
Many users on social media shared the footage of the female student, who allegedly took the videos, being scolded by the dormitory manager.
Duggal stated that this incident shows how difficult it is to contain rumors on the internet. “Currently, India is facing a new phenomenon where more and more people are digitally herdded. “People started sharing personal data without considering the possible privacy implications.” said.
A university student named Toibah Kirmani, who studies journalism, said it was regrettable that a lot of unverified information circulates on the Internet, and said the way the university handled the case was worrying.
Kirmani, “Management is trying to save its image rather than trying to reassure us that we are safe. Even if there are no suicides, people are very worried.” he said.
Shikha on Sunday “He saw some girls banging their heads on glass doors, who were worried that they were being secretly videotaped” told.
The student, who was taken into custody, was charged with “taking images of private areas of any person and sharing them” within the scope of the Information Technology Law.
Odatv.com