Hyderabad: The Telangana State Commission for Women has urged police to conduct a thorough investigation into complaints of abuse, threats to life, online trolling, and harassment faced by women journalists and their families on social media.
Led by independent journalist Thulasi Chandi and senior journalist C Vanaja, a group of journalists in Hyderabad had registered a complaint with the Women’s Commission on November 18.
The complaint stated that some social media accounts that have been targeting women journalists specifically, “using abusive language, issuing life-threatening remarks, circulating derogatory videos, posting defamatory comments, and targeting not only the journalists but also their family members.”
The group of journalists, while submitting the complaint to Commission chairperson Sharada Nerella, said that several social media accounts and coordinated groups with clear malicious intent have “consistently targeted women journalists who report on matters of public interest.”
A few of those accounts also claimed to know where the journalists lived, instilling fear and potentially endangering them, according to the complaint.
The complaint stated the online harassment constitutes “an attack on press freedom, the dignity of women professionals, and their right to work without intimidation.”
In an Instagram post, Thulasi wrote, “Journalists are the ones who do the work of exposing the flaws in governments and policies to the public. They can also criticize us for doing that work. They can expose our flaws and mistakes if they have made them, but they are trying to obstruct our work by using obscenities and threatening us.”
Calling the hate mongering a virus, she said it has been “very aggressively” instilled in the youth for political gain.
Meanwhile, the Women’s Commission, taking note of the complaint, has requested the Telangana director general of police to take strict action against the abusers and submit a compliance report.
Thulasi also reported being subjected to abuse and threats by a person operating the Instagram and Facebook accounts SIDHESH_GODSE_HINDU and sidhesh_hindu.
The individual allegedly has repeatedly posted videos targeting Thulasi with misogynistic language, shared her photographs, and issued threats of sexual violence.
The commissioner has requested screenshots, links, and videos of the abusive material, promising that action would be taken against the perpetrators.
