On August 11, a case similar to the Udupi bathroom video case came to the fore from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, wherein Mantasha Kazmi, a first-year student of the Government Homeopathic Medical College situated in the Rauza area of the district, has been accused of secretly taking objectionable photos and videos of her hostel inmates and sending them to her senior student Mohammad Amir. Mohammad Amir in turn used the intimate photos and videos of the girls to blackmail them.
The Ghazipur police took to X (formerly Twitter) to inform about the case. They said that prima facie no evidence has been found related to the matter. Under the direction of the Additional Superintendent of Police, a complete investigation is being conducted and following the investigation, the appropriate legal action will be taken.
College found the allegations to be true
According to reports, the victims are first-year students of the college, living in private hostels. When accused Mantasha Kazmi and Mohammad Amir started blackmailing them with their private pictures, the victims approached the college administration to complain about the same. The college authorities, in turn, launched a probe and found the allegations to be true.
Speaking about the incident, the Principal in charge of the state BHMS college Dr BN Sahni was first quoted by the media as saying that owing to the seriousness of the matter the college conducted an internal probe and found the accusations levelled at Mantasha Kazmi and Mohammad Amir to be true.
Reports suggest that the police were called to the campus and the accused were made to delete the objectionable pictures and videos from their respective mobile phones in front of the police. Taking note of the serious nature of the matter, the accused were suspended from the college for 6 months.
Hindi daily Jagran, however, quoted the principal as saying that the girls had initially complained against the accused, saying that they were blackmailing them with their private pictures and photos but later they withdrew the complaint calling it a misunderstanding.
The victims had reportedly written a letter to the college authorities on August 7, 2023, informing them about what transpired with them. In the letter, the victims said that Mantasha Kazmi, who was sharing a hostel room with a few of the victims, used to secretly film them and share the videos and pictures with their senior Mohammad Amir. The duo then used those videos and pictures to blackmail the victims.
The matter came to light when one day, the accused disclosed this to their class friends. The information spread like wildfire and within a short time, the entire college was talking about it. The victims also came to know about it. All the girl students in the college were infuriated by what transpired. Worried about their safety, they approached the college administration.
At first, the college authorities tried to settle the matter by persuasion, but the aggrieved girl students were not satisfied and dozens of them reached the Rajdepur police station in Kotwali city to lodge a formal complaint.
After this, Superintendent of Police Omveer Singh summoned the college’s in-charge principal, Dr BN Sahni, and set up a team under the direction of ASP City to look into the issue.
Udupi bathroom video case
On 21st July, a Karnataka-based organisation, All College Student Power (ACSP), wrote the Superintendent of Police, district Udupi, about this crime at Netra Jyoti College where three female students of the Muslim community secretly made a video of Hindu female students and shared the mobile phone. As per the letter sent by ACSP, students at Netra Jyoti College learned about it on the 20th of July and protested against it.
The college took up the matter, and three students responsible for recording the videos were suspended effective immediately, pending internal investigation. Though the victim(s) did not wish to file an official complaint in the matter, the college went ahead and informed the police keeping in mind the sensitivity of the matter.
After social media outrage, the police filed an FIR against the 3 Muslim women who were indulging in the criminal activity and the college administration for not only destroying evidence but also for not providing information and documents during the course of the investigation.