Hindu sisters defamed as morphed obscene images circulated on Instagram; Muslim youth arrested
Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India 
21 June, 2025
Case Summary
In Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim youth digitally morphed and circulated obscene photographs of a young Hindu woman and her sister on social media. The objectionable content was posted through a fake Instagram account. According to the First Information Report (FIR), filed under Section 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 67A of the Information Technology Act, the victim was informed by a friend about the circulation of obscene images of her on Instagram. Upon reviewing the fake account, she discovered similar explicit images of her sister uploaded as well. A formal complaint was filed at the Civil Lines Police Station, after which a special investigative team was formed under the direction of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sanjay Verma, supervised by SP (City), CO (City), and SHO Ashutosh Kumar Singh. The victim stated that the person operating the account intended to publicly defame them and cause social humiliation. She also expressed concern that her account might have been hacked. Deeply distressed by the incident, the victim and her family appealed to the authorities for immediate action. The police investigation led to the identification of the accused as Aryan, son of Azam Sultan, a resident of Rampuri under Kotwali Nagar police station. During interrogation, Aryan confessed to having morphed the images and shared them via the fabricated social media account. Following his arrest, he was presented before a magistrate and was remanded to judicial custody.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been classified under the “Undecided” category due to the absence of explicit evidence pointing to a religious motive behind the crime. In this incident, a 19-year-old Muslim youth digitally morphed and circulated obscene images of a Hindu woman and her sister using a fake social media account, causing them severe mental distress and social humiliation. While the victims were Hindu and the perpetrator was Muslim, there is currently no indication in the available details that the act was committed with the specific intent of targeting the victims because of their religion. The nature of the crime—cyber harassment and defamation—could potentially have been motivated by personal animosity, revenge, or other non-religious factors. However, Hindu women are often subjected to targeted online abuse and harassment by perpetrators from other religious communities. Such targeting could stem from deep-rooted prejudices or an intent to demean Hindu women in particular. The deliberate circulation of morphed images of Hindu women by a Muslim man could suggest religious profiling or even a deeper bias. Yet, without any specific reference to religion in the content posted or in the perpetrator’s statements, these inferences remain speculative. For this reason, and in the absence of conclusive evidence of religious animus, the case is currently recorded in the ‘Undecided’ category. Should further investigation or court proceedings reveal religious targeting or intent, it will be reassessed and moved to the Hate Crime database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the obscene images were posted, but it mentions that the victim filed an FIR on 22nd June 2025. Hence, we are using this as the incident date.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 2
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
