Smriti finds ‘peeping cam’ in clothing store

A case was registered against a Goa outlet of the popular clothing chain FabIndia on Friday after Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said a CCTV camera was pointed towards the changing room she used, reports The Hindu.

Police detained three staff members for questioning and have sealed the store. A case has been registered under Sections 354 C (voyeurism) and 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code against employees who were monitoring the cameras. Police seized the camera.

Irani, on a two-day holiday to Goa with her family, raised an alarm on noticing the camera. She called BJP MLA in Calangute, Michael Lobo, who reached the outlet along with the police. He lodged a complaint on her behalf.

Lobo said the camera was located just above a beam touching the trial room. “The trial room has wooden ventilators in the shape of cubes and squares for air conditioning through which the camera had a clear view inside,” he told The Hindu.

Lobo said he checked the camera at FabIndia store in Goa after Union Human Resource Minister Smriti Irani complained. “It was indeed recording the scene inside the trial room. We rolled the footage 20 minutes back… there was objectionable footage of people changing,” Lobo said.

FabIndia managing director William Bissel said the cameras did not focus on the trial room. In a clarification posted on its Facebook page, FabIndia said it was “deeply concerned and shocked at this allegation.” The outlet was in the “process of investigating this internally and will be cooperating fully with the police. Senior officials of the company are on their way to Goa and will be present during the investigation,” it said.

Lobo said the larger concern now was to check if the culprits were circulating the footage outside.