Two lawyers appealed to the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asking it to take action after an incident relating to a viral Instagram chat group that allegedly perpetuated misogyny and sexualised women online.
The letter to the court said that lawyers cannot be a silent spectator in matter of violent crimes against women and won't leave the victims to fight this battle alone.
"Private photographs of women and girls were shared accompanied by foul and degrading comments... a sample screenshot reveals that the boys have made statements, such as - 'We can rape her easily' and 'I will come whenever you say. We will gang rape her', 'I will get more boys'," the letter stated.
The leaked screenshots of the private chats that supposedly contained comments about raping women and misogynist remarks about underage girls, went viral after being shared on another Instagram group named ‘Bois locker room'.
The Delhi police cyber cell arrested the group admin of 'Bois locker room'. The officers have, however, stated that they have still not received information from Instagram about the group and its members.
While mobile phones of around 11 members of 'Bois locker room' have been sent for forensic analysis, initial investigations have revealed that the admin of the group is a class 12 student from a school in Noida. He created the group in April and added a few friends, who later added many other members from South Delhi schools.
The issue drew so much attention and condemnation that the Delhi Women's Commission took notice of the matter and issued a notice to the social media platform Instagram and the Delhi Cyber Police to respond by 8 May.
Soon after the controversy, a "girls version" of locker Room started trending on Twitter where screenshots were shared alleging that a similar version of the group exists that objectifies boys and talks trash about their bodies.