What Is Bois Locker Room: DCW Issues Notice To Instagram, Delhi Police Cyber Cell Begins Probe

A Twitter thread from a South Delhi girl has led to the revelation of the existence of an Instagram group ‘Bois Locker Room’ consisting of teenage boys aged14-17 discussing gangrape and passing lewd comments.

Representational Picture (AFP)

New Delhi: A thread of tweets from a South Delhi girl with the handle reveals snippets from the conversations which take place among the members. The Instagram group ‘Bois Locker Room’ consists of teenage boys age between 14-17 and the casual conversation are about gangraping girls, morphing images of teenage girls objectifying them, and passing lewd comments. According to online reports, the group has been active for some time and was full of images of underage women, many of whom had no idea that their images were being used.

The screenshot reveals how casual rape culture is in the country, the photos that were shared are mostly screenshots, which means the girls are unaware that their photos are being used in the group. The South Delhi girl also revealed all the members of the group, since then most of the accounts have been inactive. Twitter and Instagram posts went viral some users identified the members of the group chat as their classmates.

According to a report by ANI, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had issued notices to the Delhi Police and Instagram regarding the group. The DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal had also said that all the members of the group must be arrested and that a strong message should be sent to the society about the issue. At the time of writing the news agency also reported through a tweet that the Delhi Police Cyber Crime Cell has taken cognizance of the matter and had started a probe. On the basis of social media reports, a case has been registered under relevant sections of the IT Act and other relevant IPC sections. According to research that increasing access to the internet has resulted in more and more women facing online violence and abuse for participating in public life and sharing their opinions on social media platforms. The anonymity of the internet gives a false sense of power, online abuse takes the form of women receiving unsolicited images of sexual content, verbal abusive messages, using images without their permission like in the case of Boys Locker Room. Vicious behaviour like this propagates rape culture and puts the lives of women in danger making them feel unsafe all the time.