The accused had donned a burqa to gain unauthorised access to the women's washroom, and then surreptitiously recorded videos.
Screengrab of the visuals of the man who dressed in a Burqa to record visuals of women in a restroom
A 23-year-old male IT professional was apprehended by the police at the LuLu Mall in Kochi on the night of Tuesday, 15 August, for allegedly entering a women’s washroom disguised in a burqa and recording the ongoings.
The Kalamassery police arrested Abhimanyu (23), a native of Karuvellur in Kannur, after people stopped him at the mall.
The recent BTech graduate is said to have covertly recorded videos of unsuspecting women on his mobile phone in the mall’s restroom.
The police said they have booked Abhimanyu under Sections 354(C) (voyeurism) and 419 (impersonation) under the Indian Penal Code, along with a violation of Section 66 E of the Information Technology Act.
The accused, who works as an employee at an IT firm in Infopark in Kakkanad in the Kochi district, bought a burqa from a textile shop in Palarivatom, said police officials.
He entered the LuLu Mall on Tuesday evening and donned the burqa on the mall premises itself.
He then entered the women’s washroom and positioned his mobile phone within a small cardboard box, fixing it to the bathroom door, said the cops.
He had designed the box to accommodate the phone’s camera, with a hole big enough for the camera lens to record video, said the police, adding that the accused then left the washroom and stationed himself discreetly near the main entrance.
His peculiar behaviour raised suspicions among people using the restroom, who informed the mall’s security personnel, prompting them to alert the local police.
The cops approached the accused and subjected him to questioning, and he revealed his actions.
A video of the incident circulating on social media showed the moment security personnel confront the youth.
Following the revelations, authorities confiscated both the burqa and the mobile phone used in the illicit activity.
The accused was taken into custody and presented before a local court, which subsequently ordered him to be kept in judicial custody for a period of 14 days.
“We are investigating whether the accused had engaged in similar unlawful activities elsewhere or if this was just a one-off occurrence. The accused initially claimed that he was a transgender person, but those claims are untrue,” said Kalamassery Station House Officer (SHO) Vipin Das.
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