CHENNAI: Persons morphing pictures and circulating them to defame and tarnish reputation of girls beware. The Madras high court has refused to order release of a Chennai youth who is facing the charges of morphing the pictures of a girl who was his co-worker at a travels company in Kuwait .

Mohammed Azhar Sharif, 28, of Triplicane in Chennai was working at Caesars Travels in Kuwait, where the woman was also employed. She was a Christian, hailing from Mumbai.

When he proposed to marry her after a long friendship, she declined saying she valued his friendship but never wanted to marry him. As he still persisted with his proposal and started stalking her, the employer dismissed him from service which resulted in cancellation of his work visa. He had to return to India immediately.

Back in Triplicane, he became vengeful. According to cyber cell police, he morphed her pictures and sent them to his former colleagues to tarnish her image.

Inquiry by the Chennai police revealed that Azhar had created fake email accounts and sent the pictures to Kuwait from an Internet centre in Chennai.

An analysis of email traffic revealed that he had sent his bio-data, seeking jobs, in a similar manner.

Citing all these, Justice P Devadass dismissed his bail petition on Monday saying, "The offending materials in the form of emails and morphed photographs originated from Triplicane in Chennai and were received in Kuwait. Part of transaction took place in Chennai. It is a common feature in cybercrimes and terrorist related crimes."

The judge said, "Azhar had no business to intrude into the privacy of others. An unwilling girl cannot be forced. The way he adopted to secure her consent and his vengeful attitude now gave him an unpleasant journey -- from Kuwait to Triplicane, and then to Puzhal jail."

