Bhubaneswar, Sept. 24: Voyeurism in its worst form has returned to haunt young girls in the state. Rising incidents of unfaithful lovers filming their intimate moments with their unsuspecting “girlfriends” and circulating them through multimedia messaging service (MMS) have the police at their wits’ end.

Most of them do it for the sake of easy money or to blackmail their girlfriends, which often drives the latter to commit suicide. Yet another reason is taking revenge on the girls, who decide to quit the relationship, say some experts.

Sources in the police department said that though a cyber cell had been constituted, it is incapable of meeting such cases on a large scale. “The cell is in a nascent stage, but this MMS menace is turning into a torrent,” said a police officer.

Women cops dealing with such cases said no preventive action could be taken since circulation of porn clips through MMS did not constitute organised crime. “But we take action when such cases are reported,” said an officer at Mahila police station here.

Lawyer Saswati Mohapatra said Section 66E of the Information Technology Act, which provides punishment for violation of privacy, must be implemented in a more effective manner. The section prescribes imprisonment up to three years or a fine of Rs 2 lakh, or both, to anyone, who intentionally captures, publishes or electronically transmits the naked or semi-naked image of any person, without his or her consent.

“The arrest must be made non-bailable or the quantum of punishment should be increased as the damage caused to the victim’s reputation is irreparable,” she said.

Advocate Prasanna Nanda agreed. “Fear of spending time behind the bars and a higher amount of fine could possibly check the crime to some extent. As it apparently involves inducement to sex by assurance and breach of trust by those found involved, it should be subjected to exemplary punishment, so that it serves as a deterrent for others,” he said. Since transmission of obscene recordings was assuming the shape of a new social crime, a special squad must deal with it, as the conviction rate in such cases was very low, he said.

Sociologists have attributed this disturbing trend to the impact of western culture. “Every teenager has a mobile phone these days and most of them misuse it without understanding its consequences. Besides causing embarrassment and harm to others, they themselves might get into trouble,” said professor Navneeta Rath.

Psychologist Pratap Rath said Indian youths were becoming broader in their outlook with the influence of mass media, especially films and Internet. “Media glorify sex and portray love as a commodity and this is responsible for the rise in such cases,” said Rath.

Chairperson of the State Women’s Commission Jyoti Panigrahi said awareness and counselling of youngsters as well as their parents was imperative. “Trust is becoming a rare virtue these days. It is an appeal to adolescent girls that they should not get carried away and fall prey to moments of passion. They should dissuade their partners not to record the moments of intimacy. In case of minors, parents must keep tab on their activities if they see any unusual behaviour. They need not be overbearing and restrictive but can advise them as friends would do,” Panigrahi said.