Class 9 student detained for morphing classmates’ pictures into objectionable video

A 15-year-old Class 9 student of a private school in Vasant Kunj was apprehended for allegedly morphing photographs of 13 fellow students and a teacher into an objectionable video, and circulating the same among his friends, police said.

A complaint was filed by the school principal on May 3, following which an FIR was registered under Section 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the IT Act. Police said the juvenile in conflict with the law was apprehended on May 4 and produced before the juvenile justice board.

A police officer, requesting anonymity, said: “When he was questioned about why he did it, he said he did it for fun. When the video was obtained and analysed, the student was found to have used a photo editing application to morph the photographs into a video, which was circulated among a few students.”

Officers said that two cousins of the juvenile were also involved in the alleged crime and their role is being ascertained.

A second police officer, who deals with juvenile-related cases, said parents of students whose pictures were used met the school authorities and police in a state of panic, following which a case was filed.

“There have been some cases of morphing of pictures by school students in the recent past. In fact, some of these cases have been reported from affluent schools. Parents of the victim obviously get worried but we also counsel that they’ll create a stigma if they don’t calm the child down,” the second police officer said.

The school’s principal did not respond to calls and messages from HT for comment.

Sudha Acharya, former chairperson of the National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC), an umbrella body of 195 private schools, said that a no-smartphone policy in schools may help curb such incidents. “It’s very important that the government enforces a policy to ban smartphones in schools. To stay in touch with kids, parents can give them a keypad phone,” she said.

Acharya also called for regular sessions on cyberbullying and cybercrime for senior classes to make children aware that they would be in trouble if they indulged in such practices.