Facebook page misuses minor girls’ pics, under police’s scanner

Mumbai: A Facebook page has come under the scanner of the cyber police for using pictures of girls — both adults and minors — to offer ‘friendship’ and ‘naughty chats’ to male users.

Shaheen Sayyed, a Kuwait resident, registered a complaint on Saturday with the Mumbai police’s cyber division regarding the Facebook page. The page, which is called ‘Kashi Media,’ regularly posts pictures of girls — both adult and minor — with a caption stating that they are looking for friends and those interested should leave a message in the comments section.

The cyber police registered the case after the complainant reported the matter on Mumbai police’s Twitter handle. Initial investigations revealed that many of the pictures of girls used on the page were taken from Facebook profiles or other websites. Ms Sayyed said the girls featured on the page might not be even aware that their pictures are being used in such a manner.

Ms Sayyed, who lives in Kuwait with her husband, saw a Facebook post while scrolling on the website, which had a picture of a girl wearing revealing clothes. The photo’s caption read, “If interested is in friendship, please leave your number in the comment box.”

When Ms Sayyed visited the Facebook page out of curiosity, she saw that the page was uploading pictures of girls. The complainant immediately took to Mumbai police’s Twitter handle to report the matter along with a link of the Facebook page. Within minutes, the police’s Twitter team replied to her tweet saying that the complaint has been forwarded to the cyber police station and they will take cognisance of the same.

Speaking to The Asian Age, an officer who did not wish to be named, said, “The owner of the Facebook page will be questioned, and if any unlawful activity is found on the page, the page will be deleted from the website and the owner will be held for questioning.”

The officer added, “We are verifying the Facebook account details and check if there is any activity that is illegal and are contacting the people who have given their contact number and made lewd comments in the comments section.”

Ms Sayyed said, “Firstly I reported the matter out of pure concern that even I have a daughter and sisters at home. I was only checking the page out of fear to see whether any of my acquaintance’s pictures have ended up there. I am certain the pictures posted on the Facebook page are posted without the girls’ consent, as which 15-year-old would post a picture of herself asking people to connect to her for a ‘naughty’ chat?”