A 14-year-old school student has lodged a police complaint that three youths, one of them her friend, have circulated her objectionable pictures on social media.
They were allegedly blackmailing her that they would post more photographs if she did not pay Rs 2 lakh to them.
The girl has alleged that the photographs were forcefully clicked last year when she was alone at home. Her parents had gone to their native place during Chhath Puja.
“The victim is a school student and the three accused are adults. They had started to blackmail her to pay Rs 2 lakh failing which they were threatening to upload more photographs on social media,” said an officer of Ultadanga women’s police station where the case has been initiated.
Police said the girl had initially not informed anyone when the youths had allegedly photographed her last year. It was only recently she came to know that her photographs have already been uploaded on Facebook and were being circulated through WhatsApp.
“When she contacted her friend asking him to remove her photographs, the youth apparently started blackmailing her and threatened to post more photographs. At this point she informed her parents and decided to report the matter to the police,” said the officer.
The police said none of the three youths could be arrested till Saturday evening.
Sources said cops were trying to track them down using the Internet protocol address of the device from where the photographs had been uploaded on social media.
The police have also contacted Facebook seeking details of the accounts from where the photographs were uploaded.
Senior police officers said it was most important to report such incidents to the police and get the accused booked.
“Many young girls who are trapped into getting photographed and are later blackmailed often feel scared to report the crime fearing the social stigma. This only encourages the accused men. We request all such young victims to come forward and report the crime,” said the officer.