- By Yashashvi Tak
- Thu, 10 Jul 2025 09:33 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
A 26-year-old man, identified as Gurdeep Singh, was arrested on Thursday for operating an Instagram account that posted videos and photographs of women in Bengaluru without their consent. The arrest followed a viral Instagram post by one of the victims.
According to the NDTV report, Gurdeep Singh, a hotel management graduate who is currently unemployed, was detained at his residence in the KR Puram area of Bengaluru. He lives with his brother and is now in police custody after officers took up the case on their own initiative.
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The account in question had been sharing video clips mostly filmed on Church Street, a bustling commercial and pedestrian hub in central Bengaluru. These videos often showed women walking in public, many appearing unaware or startled as the camera was directed at them. In several clips, women were followed discreetly while the person filming claimed to be capturing “street chaos.”
The issue came to public attention when a woman raised concerns on Instagram, stating that she had been recorded without her consent while walking through the city. Despite her efforts to have the video taken down, including filing reports through Instagram’s reporting system, her requests were unsuccessful.
"This person walks around Church Street pretending to film the 'chaos' - but in reality, all they do is follow women and record them without their consent. It happened to me. And I'm sure many others have no idea they've been filmed too. Just because my account is public doesn't mean I consent to be filmed publicly. That is not how consent works. And this is not how you earn views or build engagement on Instagram. I genuinely hope this person gets caught. Tagging @blrcitypolice @cybercrimecid and sharing this in the hope that it reaches the right people. Please help me get this taken down. I am not able to mention or tag the account since I've reported the account but the account's username is in the video," a woman posted on Instagram, according to the NDTV report.
She also claimed that the video had led to her receiving vulgar messages from strangers online.
Her post tagged the Bengaluru City Police and Karnataka’s Cyber Crime division, drawing widespread attention and support from hundreds of users, including local activists and legal experts. Although the police did not initially respond publicly, they soon launched an investigation and moved to arrest Singh.
According to the NDTV report, attempts to have the Instagram account removed have been hindered by the platform’s internal policies. The police are now preparing to seek judicial intervention to compel Meta, Instagram’s parent company, to take down the account.
