Indian police arrested four people on Friday following a federal government minister’s complaint that a niche boutique in the southwestern resort of Goa had a closed-circuit TV camera looking into a changing room where she was trying out clothes.
Police officer Umesh Gaonkar said the four boutique employees face charges of insulting a woman and outraging her modesty, which can carry a maximum prison sentence of two years. The employees are to be formally charged in a court at the end of the police investigation.
VIP
Indian Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani was in the store on Friday when one of her assistants informed her about the camera, which the officer said was aimed through the changing room’s ventilator, said Nilesh Rane, another police officer.
The store is in the beach village of Candolim, popular with international tourists.
The camera was found to be recording customers inside the room, Gaonkar said.
GROWING CONCERNS
Michael Lobo, a state lawmaker belonging to Irani’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, told reporters that the camera had recorded footage of “women changing clothes over the past three to four months.”
Complaints of hidden cameras in changing rooms have been pouring in from around India.
“Not just this boutique. All stores with such a facility must be investigated,” opposition Indian National Congress party spokesman Durgadas Kamat said.
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