New Delhi: An Indian woman journalist has filed complaints with the cyber cells of Kerala and Kuwait Police for allegedly intimidating her and hurling abuses on Facebook. The journalist named Shahina Nafeesa, who is an associate editor of a magazine, has accused a Malayalee man living in Kuwait of using cyber space to threaten and humiliate her.
Kerala-based Shahina’s ordeal began when she commented on her friend’s Facebook post to something that she found as “sexist”.
“Since then this man has been sending me lewd messages. It first started with a sexist comment followed by threat to rape me. I had initially not noticed his comments but later his comments were too bizarre to be avoided,” Shahina told ANI. Apart from Shahina, Roopesh has been allegedly also abusing, sending lewd comments, and threatening with rape to another friend of her on Facebook.
“This started on August 5, when I put a comment in response to a post made by a friend of mine regarding the men who do not respect women. This person Roopesh posted a response to my comment which was highly arrogant, abusive and threatening…I was shocked to see this sexually coloured abusive comment, but did not respond to it. Then he showered several comments one by one which were uglier than the first one. He threatened to rape me and make me pregnant,” the journalist said.
“The kind of men I have seen in life are the ones who stop at one point of time, particularly when you react strongly or snub. But this man, Roopesh, is unstoppable. This is my first such experience. In fact, to my friend this man even sent pictures of his genitals. He also created a fake ID in my name and had chats with people pretending as me,” Shahina added.
Harassed with her intimated messages sent to her with impunity, Shahina filed a complaint with Kuwait’s cyber cell also.
“I am writing to you to invite your urgent attention to a grave threat that I have been facing from a person residing and working in Kuwait. He is Mr Roopesh Chathoth (according to his Facebook Profile). I understand that he is working with Advanced Technology Company at Salmiya in Kuwait. He made an open threat through Facebook that he would rape me and make me pregnant. Ignoring my warning that I would take it up legally, this person continued showering abuses on me and he is still doing that…I have still been facing sexually coloured abuses and threat in an open platform like Facebook. Hundreds of people in my country have been watching it and I am being humiliated and insulted by this man,” Shahina wrote in her complaint to Kuwait cyber cell while giving out details of the incident.
While she still awaits a proper response from the Kuwaiti law enforcing agencies, the Kerala Police recently called her to inform that they have written to Facebook with regard to her complaint and are awaiting their response.
“In Kerala if someone abuses the Chief Minister, he or she is arrested the next day. But for ordinary citizens nothing will happen,” Shahina said.
With things are stretching too far now, Shahina now fears that these threats may at some point of time become a reality if timely action is not taken. “I am really under threat. I am scared this guy wouldn’t hesitate even to come to Kerala and attack me. Misogyny makes people sick and take them to any level, we have seen it in many cases before,” Shahina told ANI.
The ANI contacted Kuwait Embassy in New Delhi for response on Shahina’s complaint. A reply from them is awaited.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]