Nepal Police has revealed its crackdown on dozens of secret groups and social networking sites like Instagram and Telegram, where obscene pictures of young Nepali women, especially celebrities and models, were being circulated.

While investigating into complaints of cybercrimes, police found that a woman had become the victim of revenge porn — distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without consent.

In the last week of June, a young woman had sent a message to the social media desk of the Nepal Police Headquarters asking for help. She is a familiar model and nightclub operator, said police.

She had complained of unauthorized use of her photos and videos on social media, tampering of her photos and posting those images on various social media groups as well as pages with obscene words. The case was transferred to the Central Cyber Bureau in Bhotahity, Kathmandu.

Another young woman living abroad had made a similar complaint to Nepal Police. The Bureau is currently investigating into the two incidents and searching for the perpetrators involved. Bureau Head SSP Nabind Aryal said, “It is a crime to use someone’s picture without consent. We are seriously investigating into such wrongdoings.”

According to Nepal Police, the Bureau has traced dozens of secret groups and channels opened on Instagram and the messaging app Telegram with pictures of young women being misused to spread obscene material.

Recently, the Bureau shut down a page called ‘Himalayan Babes’ opened by a Nepali youth on the American site Reddit. After the page was removed, many similar groups have been created on Instagram and Telegram, said police.

According to SSP Aryal, semi-porn sites such as Kanda Hub, Babbal, Kabadi Meme and Lusty Group on Instagram have been posting tampered images of Nepali women, especially celebrities. These sites post pictures of famous models, artists and young women that are active on social media portraying them as porn stars, said SSP Aryal.

The Bureau’s record of the last three months shows that it registered a total of 1,029 cybercrime cases. Of them, the highest number of cybercrime cases were recorded on Facebook and its messenger page with total 911 cases, 20 on WhatsApp, seven on Instagram and 29 on TikTok.

SSP Aryal said that among these incidents, most cases of ‘revenge porn’ are not related to these major social networking sites as porn revenge gangs and bloggers use other little-heard of networking sites like Kabadi, Kanda Hub, Lusty Group, among others. Of the total cybercrime cases registered in the last three months, 25 per cent are related to revenge porn, said police.