The Karnataka Police Monday ordered all law enforcement officers across the state to mandatorily register FIRs in cases involving the non-consensual publication or dissemination of intimate photos and videos.

The order follows a spike in complaints that local police personnel were either delaying or altogether dismissing cases when victims approached them regarding sextortion, blackmail, and revenge pornography. In several instances, it was revealed that officers turned down complaints under the flawed assumption that the victim had originally consented to the content being captured.

In the order dated June 15, Director General of Police M A Saleem stated, “Consent to capture and consent to disseminate are two entirely separate legal concepts. Even if a victim had agreed to be photographed or filmed, sharing that content with a third party without their permission constitutes a cognisable offence.”

The order cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Justice K S Puttaswamy (Retd) vs Union of India (2017), which established the Right to Privacy, including bodily privacy and the right to control dissemination of personal information, as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Saleem stated that violating this rule constitutes voyeurism, and a case can be filed under Section 77 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The order states, “Capturing or distributing images of a woman engaged in a private act without her consent can result in imprisonment for one to three years for a first offence, and three to seven years for repeat offences.”

Beyond BNS provisions, offenders can also be booked under Sections 66(e), 67, and 67(a) of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Capturing or publishing images of a person’s private areas without consent under the IT Act is punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment. Crucially, these specific sections of the IT Act are gender-neutral.

The DGP warned of strict disciplinary action against any officer who denies or delays the registration of an FIR involving non-consensual intimate content. For female victims, officers are instructed to invoke Section 77 of the BNS, along with relevant provisions of the IT Act.

Also, local police officers are now required to immediately issue takedown notices to digital platforms under the IT Act and to promptly preserve crucial digital evidence.