Overview
- The Supreme Court upheld a conviction under Part II of Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code for a man who threatened to upload a woman’s bathing video, a decision issued on Friday, May 22, 2026.
- The bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh held that threatening to publish such footage amounts to a threat to "impute unchastity" and therefore qualifies as aggravated criminal intimidation.
- The court said a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy when disrobing in a bathroom and that publication or threats of publication violate dignity and sexual autonomy.
- The judgment clarified evidentiary law by saying the prosecution need not produce the phone or video to secure a conviction if other credible testimonial or circumstantial evidence proves the threat.
- The ruling applies existing criminal law to online platforms and could widen prosecutions of digital threats involving intimate material, with direct effects on victims’ ability to seek redress and on how police and courts evaluate digital evidence.