Morphing in Thiruvananthapuram MCH: Accused re-arrested, took girls photos from Instagram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police have re-arrested the third-year MBBS student from Wayanad, identified as Abel Augustine, for morphing photos of his female classmates and circulating them on social media with lewd captions. He was arrested by the medical college police. Two FIRs had already been registered against the accused in the case. He was arrested in this case.

Although many girls have had bad experiences from him, only senior students have filed complaints so far. More are likely to file complaints against him in the coming days. The accused who was initially arrested had earlier been granted bail. The students had blocked the medical college police station last night, alleging that the reason for getting bail was the police' negligence and protecting the accused.

The complaint was filed after he was regularly capturing and circulating pictures of girls on his phone. He circulated pictures of 13 senior students. The police said that he had morphed the photos taken from the girls' Instagram stories without their permission and circulated them with obscene notes. Two girls initially came forward with the complaint on Tuesday. The police registered a case in one of these complaints. He was arrested and produced in the court but released on bail. After knowing that he was granted bail, seven girls reached the station yesterday with their complaints. However, the students alleged that the police did not bother to file an FIR or record the statements of them. They alleged that the case was registered under trivial sections, which led to his getting bail.

The stand of the police was that the complaints were of the same nature and that separate FIRs could not be registered. The police sent them back after informing them that since it was a single crime, the investigation could continue in one FIR and that other complaints could be included with it. It is also alleged that the girls were mocked and their photos were taken.

The students demanded that separate FIRs be filed in all seven complaints and a case be registered. Subsequently, the complainants and SFI workers reached the station at night. However, when the police continued to maintain that they could not accept the complaint and file an FIR as it was night, the enraged students surrounded the station shouting slogans.

After the police recorded the footage of the protesting students, an altercation broke out between the police and the students. Finally, the police agreed to register separate FIRs in all the complaints and the students ended the protest at 12.45 am.