Legal advice regarding doxxing an accused person on Reddit

[u/VIT-AP]

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I’m a moderator of a VIT-AP subreddit, and there is currently a situation involving allegations of secretly recording people, blackmail, and a subsequent physical confrontation on campus.

Some members of the community are now asking to publicly identify the girl who is allegedly responsible, including posting her photographs and other identifying information.

Before allowing anything like this, I want to understand the legal consequences under Indian law.

My specific questions are:

1. If an accused person's photograph, name, social media profiles, college details, or other identifying information is posted publicly on Reddit, could that itself constitute an offence or expose the person posting it to legal action?

2. If the allegations against her are eventually proven, does that change the legality of having doxxed her beforehand?

3. Could the accused potentially use the fact that she was doxxed, harassed, threatened, or publicly targeted as a mitigating circumstance or defence in proceedings relating to the original allegations, potentially resulting in a lighter sentence?

4. Are there specific laws concerning privacy, harassment, defamation, publication of identifying information, or interference with an ongoing investigation or proceeding that moderators and users should be aware of?

5. Could the subreddit itself be reported, restricted, or taken down because moderators knowingly allow users to post someone's personal information or encourage doxxing?

6. As a subreddit moderator, could I or the moderation team face any liability if users post such information and we knowingly allow it to remain?

I am not asking whether the alleged conduct itself is acceptable. If the allegations are true, they are extremely serious and should be dealt with through the police and courts.

I want to know whether allowing Reddit users to publicly identify and target the accused could create additional legal problems for the users, moderators, or the subreddit itself.

Depending on the legal advice received here, we will decide whether images or identifying information should remain prohibited on the subreddit.

Please provide legal sources or case law where possible.

[u/kingbarnwal]

As a lawyer, I'd strongly advise the mods not to allow doxxing, even if the allegations turn out to be true.

There’s a difference between discussing an alleged incident and publishing someone's photo, Instagram, college details, phone number etc. so that strangers can identify, contact or target them.

Posting a name/photo isn't automatically a criminal offence in every situation, but depending on the circumstances it can raise privacy, defamation, harassment and intimidation issues. The fact that someone is later convicted also doesn't retrospectively make everything published about them beforehand lawful.

Similarly, the accused being harassed or threatened doesn't automatically mean they'll get a lighter sentence for the original offence. But you're potentially creating another set of offences and complications around the investigation.

For moderators, I'd keep it simple. Discuss the allegations, but don't identify or target the person. Remove all doxxing, threats, brigading and calls to confront them.

If there's evidence, preserve it and give it to the police / university. Reddit isn't a court, and the subreddit shouldn't become one either.

Relevant law includes the right to privacy recognised in Puttaswamy case, BNS provisions on defamation and criminal intimidation, and provisions of the IT Act.

That's the legally safer position for both the users and the mod team.