Prerana Toshniwal, Pune
A 30-year-old man in the Shakarpur area of East Delhi has been arrested for installing a spy camera in his female tenant’s house. The victim, a civil services aspirant, had been living alone in the apartment for several months now. When she traveled out of town, she would leave the key to the apartment with Karan, the landlord’s son.
The situation came to light when the woman noticed unusual activity on her WhatsApp account. On being advised, she checked the login activity on her account and realized that it was logged into unknown devices. While she logged it out immediately, she got more suspicious and checked for hidden surveillance equipment in her apartment.
She discovered a camera in her bathroom, concealed in the bulb holder. She contacted the police on Monday, 23rd September. On investigating further, the officers found another hidden camera in the bulb holder in her bedroom.
Since the woman used to hand over the keys to the landlord’s son, the police interrogated him. During the interrogation, he confessed to having installed the camera three months ago when the victim was visiting her hometown in Uttar Pradesh. As the cameras could not be accessed online, he had to rely on their memory cards. For this, he would repeatedly ask the woman for keys in the guise of maintenance work like electrical fixtures. He would then transfer the recorded footage from the memory cards to his laptop.
On further investigation, one more spy camera and two laptops that were used to store the recorded footage were found in his possession. He had bought all this from a local electronic store.
He is currently under police custody and has been charged with Section 77 under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita. It criminalizes the act of capturing or watching a woman during private acts when she expects not to be looked at. The law provides strict actions ranging from fining to imprisonment.
The authorities have reported that the accused, Karan, is a disabled man. He has been preparing for competitive exams for the past seven years and has no other criminal record.