The cyber crime cell of Delhi Police has arrested four people in connection with a First Information Report filed by journalist Barkha Dutt for harassment via calls, text messages, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. Three men are from Delhi, while one is from Surat in Gujarat.
Dutt had registered an FIR in February after she received abuses and threats over phone calls, messages, WhatsApp calls and obscene pictures from unknown people. Her FIR said that she appeared to have been made a “victim of some fake news propaganda” and that her personal number was shared on social media platforms.
The journalist said in the FIR that she was sent “nude pictures and sexually abusive text messages”. “I fear for my well-being, security and life as this is a coordinated assault by a violent mob,” she said, adding that one message said: “Goli maar denge”, or “will shoot you”.
An unidentified police officer told The Indian Express that the men were arrested using technical surveillance. Rajiv Sharma (23), Hemraj Kumar (31) and Aditya Kumar (34) were arrested from Delhi, and Shabbir Gurfan Pinjari (45) from Surat.
According to police, Sharma, Hemraj Kumar and Aditya Kumar were booked for sending objectionable text messages and have been granted bail. Pinjari, who works in a butcher shop, was booked for sending an obscene photograph and has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Responding to the arrests, Dutt said: “Four men arrested by Delhi Police cyber cell for stalking me, sexually abusing me, sending me nude/D#ck pictures and in one case threatening to kill me. However this is not over. I have listed ten more numbers in my FIR and before a magistrate. Will follow till each one [is] jailed.”
Thanking the Delhi Police, Dutt said at least 10 others who sent her abusive messages are still at large. “My statement before the magistrate is on record. Please act,” she said.
On February 19, the National Commission for Women had asked Delhi Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik to initiate a “speedy investigation” into Dutt’s harassment on social media.
Several journalists, including Dutt, had complained of receiving threatening calls and messages, and explicit pictures, on Twitter and WhatsApp in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. In a series of tweets, Dutt had shared several phone numbers from which she received either abusive calls or messages. She said she had received close to 1,000 abusive messages and calls.
She was also locked out of her Twitter account after she revealed the names and phone numbers from which she had received abusive calls.
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