Orkut India in Trouble Over Malicious Profile

Google-owned social networking site, Orkut, is in trouble again in India. This time, a Delhi court has ordered an investigation into the portal, over a complaint by an air hostess whose obscene profile was allegedly posted on the site by some unidentified Oorkut user.

The air hostess says someone opened an account in her name and described her as a 'sex-struck woman'. She said the phone numbers given in the account belongs to one of her neighbors, an official at the Lok Sabha Secretariat, who has incidentally been receiving vulgar calls for sometime now. A case has been registered in this regard in Delhi, and authorities have directed its specialized cell to conduct investigations into the allegations and file a report by February 9.

In her plea, the 23 year old air hostess claims the act has damaged her image and reputation in society and says she has written to the National Commission for Women and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry against her criminal defamation, but no action has been taken so far. The air hostess says she discovered her profile on Orkut with a photograph of her in her uniform, on December 26, 2006. The person who put her on Orkut also made her a member of online communities soliciting sex. Incidentally, the profile of the miscreant was also connected to communities of air hostesses, both national and international airlines, and multi-national companies.

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The malicious account had been been flooded with over 250 scrapss or messages by other members of Orkut, by the time she noticed it. Friends and family of the air hostess had immediately reported the matter to Orkut, which in turn had closed the account, but two days later, the profile was reopened.

If the guilty can be convicted, he or she can be sentenced to a rigorous imprisonment of up to five years with a fine of Rs 2 lakh under various Sections of IT Act and IPC.