A Kerala poet has received no response from the police to a complaint that her Facebook pictures were uploaded to an adult content website. Kochi-based Chithira Kusuman said that the police’s cyber cell office in InfoPark, Kochi, where she filed the complaint, has not even acknowledged that they received the complaint. She learned that her Facebook pictures had been misused and posted on an adult content site from a friend. She had even submitted the URL of the site along with her complaint on November 30, only to be disappointed with police inaction.
On Tuesday, December 13, Chithira wrote on Facebook about her pictures being posted on the site and the insensitive response from the police while she approached them to file the complaint. "It was through a Facebook friend that I came to know that my photos had been uploaded on the site. When I checked that site, I found that there were pictures of other women also posted there. I approached the Cyber Cell at InfoPark in Kochi to complain about this. I was asked by an officer there if my profile was not locked. When I told him that it wasn’t, his answer was that such things would happen and people would take the pictures and do whatever they wanted if the profile is not locked. He also ridiculed me, asking what was the point in complaining. He also said that the police were not able to trace the swindling of money through Facebook, asking what they were to do when pictures of an unlocked profile were taken," the post read.
The post continued, "I insisted on filing the complaint. He then called another officer on the phone. The latter suggested filing an email complaint with URLs of my pictures. When I mentioned that other women's images were also on the site, that officer asked me to mind my own business and let the other women complain if they were bothered by it.” She was made to leave by the officer at the reception only after she agreed to lock her facebook profile. "He was repeating to the other officer that my profile was not locked. He also said that upon investigation, it would be revealed that the IP address [of the adult site] would be somewhere in America or Nigeria, and that people would be better off if careful.”
Chithira emailed a complaint again on December 8 since the previous complaint filed on November 30 remained unanswered. She told TNM that when a complaint is filed offline, a receipt is given. However, as she was asked to file the complaint over email, there was no form of acknowledgment. Even as the police continue to be unresponsive, the pictures are still on the website.
In the post, she recounted how the experience had affected a friend who had accompanied her to the cyber cell office. "That was the first time that she was visiting a police station. While leaving the station, she asked me if this is the response one should expect when something like this happens. I felt sad. She locked her own profile before leaving the station. After all, we have to train women to behave," the post ended, with a tinge of sarcasm.
Speaking to TNM, Chithira added, “I put up the Facebook post as there was no response to my complaint. The police did not respond in the way that they should have. Cyber police are expected to help us use the cyber space and not to suggest that we lock our profiles. The response we anticipate from the police is that they will take action if our profile is misused, as we have the freedom to use the cyber space.”
Chithira had posted on Facebook in July this year in support of the survivor who filed a sexual harassment complaint against writer and activist Civic Chandran. The poet was also present at the gathering in which the alleged sexual harassment happened.