Hyderabad: The Mumbai police cyber cell on Wednesday arrested a man from Hyderabad for giving online rape threats to Indian cricketer Virat Kohli’s 10-month-old daughter after team India’s loss against Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2021. The accused, Ramnagesh Alibathini, is a software engineer and worked for a food delivery app earlier.
Virat Kohli trolled for supporting Mohammed Shami
Virat Kohli was trolled because he came out of support of his Muslim teammate Mohammed Shami, who became the victim of communal hatred following India’s defeat to Pakistan. Calling the haters ‘spineless’ people, Kohli had said that attacking someone over their religion is “the most pathetic thing that a human being can do”.
Soon after his comments, Virat also found himself on the receiving end of social media hatred as many started abusing the cricketer. Among them was a Twitter user @Criccrazyygirl, who issued rape threats to Virat and Anushka Sharma’s daughter.
Following this, sections of Indian media claimed that the social media abuse on Virat Kohli was orchestrated from Pakistan to defame India. However, fact-checker and Co-founder of Alt News, Mohammed Zubair confirmed that the Twitter user who goes by username ‘@Criccrazygirl’ is a right-wing troll from Hyderabad.
The Twitter account of the abuser was later deleted and showed ‘unavailable’ on the micro-blogging site.
Netizens react to abuser’s arrest
Rajya Sabha member of parliament from Shiv Sena, Priyanka Chaturvedi lauded the Mumbai police for arresting the accused and slammed those who had blamed Pakistan. “Not arrested from Pakistan but from Hyderabad. For those who tried to push this otherwise. How far will your hate take you? Good work @MumbaiPolice,” she wrote in a tweet.
Delhi Commission for Women’s suo-moto cognizance
Earlier, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had taken suo-moto cognizance on reports of online rape threats to Virat Kohli’s daughter, Vamika Kohli.
As per reports, DCW had asked the deputy commissioner of police to provide them with a copy of the first information report (FIR), details of the accused identified and arrested, and detailed action taken report by November 8, 2021. Issuing a notice to the Delhi Police, DCW had described the online trolling of Virat Kohli and his family as a “serious matter” and asked for “immediate attention.”
