A 23-year-old man has been apprehended by the Kalamassery police on Wednesday for allegedly disguising himself as a woman and surreptitiously implanting a camera inside the women's restroom at a mall in Kochi. The suspect, identified as Abhimanyu from Karivellur in Kannur and employed as a techie at Kochi Infopark, was caught under suspicion by security guards near the bathroom.
According to the police, Abhimanyu entered the Lulu mall in Kochi on Tuesday and later donned a burqa after entering the mall. Subsequently, he allegedly entered the women's restroom where he is accused of placing a mobile phone, equipped with a camera, inside a box. He then discreetly made a hole in the box for the camera's lens.
The police, in their press release, has said that he was found roaming near the bathroom in a suspicious manner and was questioned by the mall security guards, who informed the police. Upon police questioning, they found that he had hidden a camera inside with a video recorder switched on. The police arrested him and booked him under sections 354(C) (Voyeurism), 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66(E) (Punishment for violation of privacy) of the Information Technology Act.
Abhimanyu reportedly claimed to be a lesbian after being apprehended. A video of the incident circulating on social media displays the moment when the security personnel confront the youth, with a woman questioning his identity as a lesbian.
Notably, instances like these spotlight the challenges faced by transgender individuals when attempting to use gender-appropriate facilities, often encountering hostile reactions from the public who perceive them as "impersonating" a different gender. However, in this instance, Abhimanyu was found with his phone recording inside the bathroom.