The Karnataka High Court on Monday, April 27 refused to quash criminal proceedings against BK Diganth, the man behind the Instagram account ‘Bangalore Metro Chicks’.
Diganth had moved the court seeking to halt the investigation, with his counsel SR Sreeprasad arguing that the videos he uploaded were no different from what CCTV cameras routinely capture in public spaces. He further contended that the case was flawed because the investigating officer also happened to be the complainant.
The 27-year-old accountant from Karibonahalli was arrested on May 23, 2025, for recording videos of women on the Namma Metro without their consent and circulating the videos on Instagram and Telegram.
The Telegram channel had 1,188 subscribers before it was taken down on May 20, while the Instagram page had crossed 6,000 followers.
TNM had earlier reported that the account posted 14 videos, each with captions objectifying women, featuring zoomed-in footage of their faces and bodies filmed inside the metro. Following media reports and outrage on social media, the Bengaluru police took suo motu cognisance of the case.
The case is being tried before the Additional CJM Court in Bengaluru under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 78(2) (stalking) and 238(C) (providing false information), along with Section 67 of the Information Technology Act for publishing obscene material online.
While hearing the quash petition, Justice M Nagaprasanna said, "What kind of men are you? You won't leave women anywhere? You don't leave women to be safe anywhere?"
Dismissing the comparison with CCTV footage, the court asked, “What CCTV cameras?”...clicking women from the back and posting it on Metro Chicks is not an offence?”
On the challenge to the investigating officer's role, Justice Nagaprasanna stated that “technicalities cannot override such acts,” before dismissing the plea in its entirety.
This article was written by a student interning with TNM.
