SMS scare in Delhi village

Parivesh Vatsyayan

New Delhi: If you ever thought your mobile number was safe in your hands, it’s time you change your belief. The days of mobile cloning are passé. Now in the market, there are many software, which require only a 10-digit mobile number (in case of India) to misuse it. A recent incident, which took place in West Delhi, has brought this menace to the limelight. People living in Kakrola village, near Dwarka, have been terrified by SMSs being sent to them by a specific number. These messages contain abusive language as well as lewd content. According to the residents, the messages started coming some six to seven days back and almost every adult living in the area has received the SMSs. Apart from being worried, the residents are also concerned about their children receiving or reading these messages. Some of the SMSs also carry the name, address and mobile numbers of a girl, Aasha (name changed). For the first few days, people thought some mentally disturbed person was sending these messages and chose not to take any action. However, when the messages continued to pour in, they called back on the two numbers. One of the two numbers always returned switched-off notification, while the other number was found to belong to one Manju (name changed), a resident of the same village. Surprisingly, when villagers questioned the girl, it turned out that it wasn’t she who was sending the lewd messages. The residents then called up the number from which these SMSs were being sent. This number turned out to be of a person who was the relative of a local politician. However, the owner of the number too said he was not behind the messages. With their efforts leading nowhere, the residents decided to approach the police whose attitude stunned the complainants. The police officials told them that people tend to send such messages and it was quite common. Instead of taking any action, the police asked the residents to switch off their mobile phones. However, when pressed by the villagers, the police promised to take action but didn’t do anything. The dejected residents then decided to trace the address mentioned in the messages, and were shocked to find that Aasha’s house was in the neighbourhood of Manju’s residence. When they confronted Aasha’s mother, she claimed innocence and said she had no idea who was sending these messages with her daughter’s name and address. The mystery about the sender continues, with the victims receiving no help from any quarter. But two things are obvious. Firstly, the troublemaker is an influential person because of which the police seem to be shying away from taking any action. Secondly, the person behind the menace is using some kind of a software to send messages through a third person’s mobile number. Also, the culprit’s aim seems to tarnish the image of Aasha, Manju or the local politician’s relative. Or, the troublemaker could even be one among any one of these three persons! With the police treating it as a "casual affair", perhaps, only time now can unveil the reality......

Adaptation by Deepak Nagpal