During 2005, MMS messages of various Indian actresses, including Preity Zinta, Manisha Koirala and Mallika Sherawat, were victims of spycams, pornographic images and other media portrayals that were posted to various websites, though none of the women knowingly were involved with any such projects.
Currently, another wave of morphed porn images has struck Indian celebs, targeting actresses Sania Mirza and Kareena Kapoor. One image includes Kapoor changing her clothes in what appears to be a dressing room at one of her shootings.
Many of the images are taken using spycams, mobile phones with cameras and webcams. And while the same actions in the U.S. would mean millions of dollars in legal damages, in India, the law provides no recourse for victims of spycams and morphed pornographic images.
"In Kareena's case, it was someone in the film unit who was paid to plant a camera,” film executive Mahesh Bhatt said. “The industry needs to wake up to this malaise. An example must be made of culprits and legal action must be taken, to act as deterrence."
But film director Suneel Darshan said that even if the country was allowed to track hidden cameras, as is permitted in the U.S., it doesn’t necessarily have the resources or knowledge to do so. Even Indian police have a tough time tracking an MMS image because the data needed is generally not available to service providers.
"We [also] need a written complaint to track the wrong-doers, something people generally don't wish to do,” a senior official with the Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell said. “The police finds it’s like asking a tech for something which just doesn't exist.”
Despite the lack of laws to deal with the problem, Manisha Koirala, who recently was involved in an MMS controversy, said it’s important for Indians to know that if they file a complaint, there’s a 50 percent chance of winning the case in court, even with little evidence.
“People usually like to keep mum," Koirala said. “Our legal system needs to be such that the citizens have faith in it and feel safe and the guilty are punished."