What to do if someone leaked your private pictures in India?

One fine morning you wake up and suddenly one of your friend while scrolling the social media platforms, finds that a picture of yours has been circulated by someone and it is not some normal picture but a picture which you would never want anyone to see, a picture which is strictly private for you.

Yes, it’s your unclothed pictures!

Nothing can be more disturbing and disturbing than this. Even just by thinking about it can give you goosebumps and it can be like your worst ordeal.

So many people fall prey to this atrocious crime. Some people tend to fight and face it and some people end up giving up their lives!

Not long ago, India was battling with the surge in COVID-19 cases and among other problems, including but not limited to, it also gave a huge rise in cyber crime i.e. cases relating to online harassment, sextortion, online blackmailing, child pornography etc.

People in today's time have become more capable of doing things which were not imaginable a few years ago. Internet though offers great benefits to the public at large but also has some disadvantages and offers great opportunities for the cyber criminals.

Several questions come in a person's mind after encountering such situation.

Steps that a person can take to counter this problem:

• Always save the source or the link to that picture so that you can report it, take appropriate legal action against the one who published and the place where it was published. It will also come in handy to trace the person(s) who posted it on the internet.

• File a police complaint in this regard at the earliest either physically going to the police station or on www.cybercrime.gov.in

• Do a reverse image search on Google to figure out where your photos have been leaked on the internet.

• You can also send a legal notice to the website to take down the content.

• Fill a content removal form on the porn website to take down the content.

• Google a DMCA form if the pictures are leaked on US based platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, etc.

• Do not delete the evidence

• You can also approach the court of law since the said act is a violation of right to privacy.

Conclusion

It is distressing to find your private pictures being circulated online but the victim needs to keep calm and have trust in the laws of our country. The public at large also needs to understand that the victim whose private pictures are circulated online on the internet is already under a state of distress and are themselves suffering and they need compassion and support from their near and dear ones and not their harsh words so that they can combat such problems.