The Karnataka High Court on Monday refused to quash criminal proceedings against a man accused of operating an Instagram page titled “Bangalore Metro Chicks,” which allegedly featured non-consensual images and videos of women commuters.
Hearing the petition in BK Diganth v. State of Karnataka, Justice M Nagaprasanna strongly criticised the conduct in question, remarking, “What kind of men are you? You won’t leave women anywhere? You don’t leave women to be safe anywhere?”
According to reports, the petitioner was arrested in May 2025 for running the account under the username @metro_chicks. The page reportedly hosted content that was secretly recorded without the knowledge or consent of women travelling on the metro.
An FIR had been registered against him on charges of voyeurism, along with offences under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
According to the Bar and Bench, counsel for the petitioner, Advocate SR Sreeprasad, argued that no offence had been made out, contending that the nature of the content was comparable to footage captured by CCTV cameras. The Court, however, rejected this submission in strong terms, observing, “What CCTV cameras? Clicking women from the back and posting it on Metro Chicks is not an offence?”
The petitioner also raised a procedural objection, submitting that the investigating officer in the case was also the complainant. However, the Court declined to entertain such technical arguments.
Dismissing the plea, Justice Nagaprasanna underscored that procedural technicalities cannot be invoked to shield conduct of this nature. “No amount of technicalities I will permit such things to happen. Technicalities cannot override such acts of yours. Time has come that we should stop technicalities on certain things,” the Court stated.