Pune: Dehu Road police have arrested a 21-year-old boy on charges of stalking and uploading a teen girl's photos on Instagram account without her consent. The girl has also alleged that the boy demanded money from her to not make their photos viral which were clicked in March during his birthday party celebrations.
The arrested boy has been identified as Prashant alias Baban Dharma Landge (21). He stays with his family at a rented house behind Kedare hospital in Chakan. He has been booked under sections 354d (Stalking) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The girl’s father has filed the complaint in this regard on Sunday evening at the Dehu Road police station.
According to the complaint, Prashant and the girl were friends with each other. The girl’s parents had asked him to stay away from her in May but he was still in contact with her. On July 23 at around 3.30 pm the girl’s mother received a call from her son’s friends saying he has seen some photos of her daughter with a boy uploaded on an Instagram account. He also sent some screenshots on the mother's mobile.
When the girl’s mother asked her about the photos, she told them that they were clicked in March during a birthday party of the boy. Initially, she had declined the birthday party invitation but then relented and went to meet him and her another friend. While they were together in a car, Prashant had clicked some photos.
The girl told her parents that Prashant had uploaded the photos on his Instagram account without her consent and that he had also demanded money earlier to not make them viral. After this information was revealed by the girl, her parents approached Dehu road police and lodged FIR against Prashant. Police sub-inspector Kokate of Dehu Road police station is investigating the case.
