Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has advised the government to come up with some regulatory measures to check the growth of pseudo-therapists and 'Instagram influencers'. The court cautioned that many people were falling prey to such therapists online.
While rejecting a petition of one such 'influencer' who sought to quash a criminal case against her, the High Court had said in a September 2 judgement: Therapists of this kind are many on the social media. In reality, they are not bound by ethics or not regulated by norms. Cases of this nature have begun to emerge in large proportion wherein people wanting to get therapy fall prey to pseudo-therapists." The court said,"In public domain, there is a huge number of such therapists. On the social media, therapists pose as if they are in the field of therapy. It is also in public domain that they are pseudo-therapists who are "Instagram influencers." Justice M Nagaprasanna was hearing a criminal petition by Sanjana Fernandes aka Raveera, a 28-year-old resident of Bengaluru. A complaint was filed against her by Shankar Ganesh PJ.
The case is now pending before a Magistrate Court in which she has been accused of offences of cheating under the IPC and various sections of the Information Technology Act. According to the prosecution, Raveera, an IT professional, came in contact with the accused on a dating app. After realising that Shankar Ganesh was under stress, she directed him to her Instagram page 'Positive For A 360 Life".
She claimed to be a wellness therapist. After attending her online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic, the complainant transferred around Rs 3.15 lakh to her. Ganesh wanted to meet the therapist personally and started sending her messages. He was eventually blocked by her.
He later found out that she had 15 profiles on Instagram and other social media platforms. So he filed a complaint of cheating against her. Raveera, in her petition before the High Court, contended that Ganesh was sending her lewd messages and dirty requests and when she resisted, a false complaint was filed against her.