New Delhi: The Delhi Police’s investigation in the ‘Bois Locker Room’ case has revealed that the conversation casually discussing rape and gangrape of a girl never happened on the private Instagram group of that name. Instead, it was a separate Snapchat conversation between two individuals, initiated by a girl, which “coincidentally got mixed up”, police sources told ThePrint.
According to a senior police officer, the girl took on a fake name, ‘Siddharth’, and suggested a plan of “aggravated sexual assault on herself” to a male friend, just to gauge his reaction.
“Using the fake identity of a male person, she suggested a plan to sexually assault herself. The purpose of her sending such chat messages using a fake, fictional identity was to check the reaction of the boy and the strength of his character, especially when someone talks bad things about the girl herself,” the officer said.
“The boy, however, declined to participate in any such plan suggested by ‘Siddharth’ and stopped further communication,” the officer added.
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How the screenshot got ‘mixed up’ with others
The police officer detailed that the boy, who got worried, took a screenshot of the chat on Snapchat and sent it to his friends, including the girl.
“The boy sent the girl the screenshot of his conversation with ‘Siddharth’ to alert her that someone was planning an assault on her. He was oblivious to the fact that the girl, in fact, was ‘Siddharth’, and had herself started the conversation to judge his character,” the officer said.
While the girl did not forward the screenshots to anyone, the boy shared them with a few of his friends.
One of his friends then posted it on Instagram as his story, which started circulating on social media, the officer continued.
“Since the screenshot of the conversation went on social media, it started circulating in connected social media accounts of friends, schoolmates, etc,” the officer said.
In the meantime, some screenshots of conversations on the ‘Bois Locker Room’ Instagram group were also revealed, and the Snapchat screenshot got “mixed with it”, the police officer claimed.
“This Snapchat conversation about assaulting a girl had nothing to do with the Bois Locker Room group. It is a separate conversation, on a separate platform,” the police officer said.
“Due to its sensational nature and due to its availability in different student groups, it got mixed up with the ‘Bois Locker Room’ case,” he added.
The officer said until now, the police have not found any conversation on the Bois Locker Room group suggesting sexual assault on any girl.
The group, however, does have chats where boys are talking about girls’ body parts and sharing morphed pictures.
Arrests in Bois Locker Room case
The police have arrested two adults — the ‘Bois Locker Room’ group administrator, and an active participant in the group. One juvenile has also been apprehended and sent to a correction home.
More than 24 students connected with the case have also been examined.
“Devices of the persons concerned have been seized and sent for forensic analysis,” the officer said.
The investigation has also revealed that participants of the group were sharing obscene pictures of girls and women, and commenting on them.
“We have registered a case, made arrests. We also collected details of members of the group from their educational institutions, as well as from friends and acquaintances,” the officer said.
“The group admin, a resident of Noida, was arrested the day after the registration of the case. So far, more than 24 students connected with the case have been examined,” he added.
Efforts are being made to identify and examine the remaining group members.
“Partial information about three Instagram accounts have been shared by the intermediary,” the officer said.
“Further technical details are being collected. The devices seized during investigation have been sent for forensic analysis. Further investigation is underway,” he said.
Also read: Delhi women’s commission wants ‘Bois Locker Room’ probed, sends notice to Instagram, police