Balurghat, Nov. 9: The brother of the woman who had been arrested for allegedly taking photo of a housewife’s dress change said the accused was mentally unsound and the picture might have been circulated from a computer shop she had visited.

Dipika Sarkar had been arrested from her house at East Belbari in Gangarampur yesterday for clicking the housewife’s picture while she was changing clothes.

Rabin Dutta, a homeopath, said Dipika was innocent. “When my sister was arrested, she told me that she had filmed the housewife on her cellphone but did not send the picture to anyone,” said Dutta.

Dipika has been charged under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, and the Information Technology Act, 2007. She was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed with the Gangarampur police by the victim’s husband. The woman has been remanded in judicial custody by court till November 22.

The picture was circulated in Gangarampur and the homemaker and her husband came to know about the incident when unknown persons called them up and made obscene comments.

Dutta claimed that Dipika had been mentally unstable since childhood and her marriage had broken up 22 years back.

“My sister was married to Ashis Sarkar, a local guy, in 1988. But the husband left my sister six months after the marriage because of her mental condition. After that, she has been living with us. Although her mental state didn’t permit her to attend school, she can write her name. She likes listening to songs and taking pictures of people with her cellphone,” said the brother.

Dipika purportedly told Dutta during the arrest that she had gone to two computer shops recently to download songs. “The picture could have been downloaded by those who were running the shops,” said Dutta.

South Dinajpur superintendent of police Chirantan Nag said: “If we find that the clip was spread by the computer shops as the brother of the accused is claiming, we will certainly probe from that angle.”

A police officer said irrespective of people’s economic condition, every household in villages had cellphones. “This case is an eye-opener. We are concerned about such incidents. We lack police officers who are adept at cracking cyber crimes.”