Bhubaneswar, May 5: The capital has, of late, witnessed a number of incidents of young girls being blackmailed by unfaithful lovers who record intimate moments spent with them. Some of these unfaithful lovers have even gone to the extent of making money by selling these recordings in the form of CDs. This has become a cause of concern for those who are entrusted with the duty of keeping law and order in the city and those who research on societal trends.

Khandagiri police yesterday arrested two persons, including the prime accused Dibya Ranjan Pradhan, who had taken nude photos of a girl. He was allegedly threatening the girl’s family that he would release the photos in public if they do not allow him to marry the girl. He also allegedly kidnapped a lawyer at gunpoint. The lawyer had informed the matter to the police after coming to know about it from the father of the girl.

Similarly, Ghatgaon police in Keonjhar yesterday arrested a 21-year-old youth, Himanshu Behera, for recording intimate scenes of his girlfriend and circulating the contents to others using his mobile phone.

In yet another incident, Bhubaneswar Mahila police on May 1 arrested three youths for allegedly taking nude photos of a girl and threatening her to circulate the contents if she did not pay them a ransom of Rs 50,000. One of the arrested youths was the girl’s boyfriend.

Many such incidents are being reported in various police stations in the state. Police officers say that the number of such crimes has increased in the last five years.

According to a woman police officer, the chief motivating factor behind such acts was either earning money or forcing a girl to marry against the wishes of her family.

“We take action whenever such cases are reported. But no preventive actions can be taken to curb the occurrence of such incidents as this is not an organised crime.” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Himanshu Lal.

In case of the arrest of three youths on May 1, the Mahila police and a special squad of the city police acted swiftly to nab the accused persons before they could circulate the pictures that they had taken using the inbuilt cameras of their mobile phones.

Sociologists relate these incidents to the impact of western culture on Indian society. Besides, modernisation and information technology boom have suppressed the moral values of Indian society, they say.

“Youths today feel that even love has become a marketable commodity in today’s world. Sex is no longer a taboo among young boys and girls. Out of curiosity and fun, they record their intimate moments. But later the boy takes the easy route to earn money by circulating these contents and blackmailing the girl,” said sociologist D.N. Jena.

“The mass media that glorifies sex and portrays love as commodity is responsible for the rise in the number of such cases,” said psychologist Pratap Rath.

Chairperson of the Orissa State Women’s Commission Jyoti Panigrahi said whenever such cases came to her knowledge, the commission had instructed the police to take immediate steps to arrest such youths.