A 22-year-old woman has been accused of defaming a colleague by allegedly creating fake social media accounts and has been arrested by the Cyber Police Station Of North District, New Delhi . According to the police, the woman has used Instagram to upload morphed and objectionable photos of her co-worker, a teacher. Police said that the woman even created AI-generated pictures and videos to tarnish her co-worker’s image among students and colleagues.
The victim is a teacher at a government aided school
As per the police, the 25-year-old victim, is a teacher at a government-aided school. The police said that the victim had lodged a complaint that someone was operating fake Instagram accounts in her name and circulating edited photos and videos to defame her. According to the police, the accused, a former contractual Sanskrit teacher at the same school who had left her job in 2022, was identified via technical analysis of data provided by Instagram. This data included the IP logs, registered emails, and the mobile numbers linked to the fraudulent accounts as reported in the United News of India.
What are the legal options in case someone creates a fake social media account in their name?
Creating a fake profile of someone will be counted as identity theft punishment under the section 66 C of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Under the section 66 C, there is a provision of up to 3 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh if someone uses another person’s name, photo, or personal details to create a fake profile. If the fake profile is used to deceive others (financial fraud, phishing), then the culprit could be punished under section 66 D under the impersonation for Fraud with up to 3 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
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