Recently, senior journalist Dhanya Rajendran was trolled on social media by fans of Tamil actor, Vijay. Apparently, they were offended with her tweet comparing Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Harry Met Sejal with Vijay’s film,Sura.
On Wednesday, Vijay issued a statement urging his fans not to abuse women and respect everyone’s opinion .
OFFICIAL: #Vijay issues a statement. “Everyone has a right to criticize any film. Do not indulge in passing vile remarks on women” pic.twitter.com/lSEdFGNNgT
— Vijay (@Actor_Vijay) August 9, 2017
“I am someone who respects women a lot. Everybody has the right to criticise anyone’s film. It is my view that no woman should be spoken of in a demeaning way for any reason or any time. Everyone has to praise womanhood. I request that nobody should share hurtful and wrong views about women on social media,” reads the statement from Vijay. (As translated by The News Minute)
What is the case?
Dhanya on August 4 had tweeted her opinion about Jab Harry Met Sejal.
Her tweet was followed by a barrage of sexually explicit comments and harassment for the next several days, which eventually forced her to file the police complaint.
People can have an opinion. Performers respect that, they are in a public arena, Fans should too. Leaving with some screenshots pic.twitter.com/0QcgdBo9dm
— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 7, 2017
She was also mistaken for seeking publicity by some Twitter account holders.
Soon, she started trending on Twitter.
So yesterday, according to trendsmaps, there were 31,000 tweets on that hashtag on me and 30,000 mentions (with or without hashtags).
— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 7, 2017
She found support in DMK working president MK Stalin, who also took to Twitter.
Intolerance in any form, for expressing ones views in a democratic country is unacceptable. #FreedomofSpeech pic.twitter.com/7NacaVQXV9
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 9, 2017
As of now, four anonymous Twitter handles and few others have reportedly been booked by the Cyber Crime Branch of the Chennai police in the matter.
(Feature Image Source: Twitter)