The recent controversy over targeting of women for sexual exploitation and harassment on the basis of their religion has created a lot of stir on media and social media. Social media users had highlighted certain apps and channels that were sharing images of Hindu women for potential sexual harassment.
Popular social media user Anshul Saxena had alerted people about a Telegram channel named ‘Hindu Ran*yan’ that was using images of Hindu women with derogatory, sexually explicit references for harassment and abuse.
Dear @MumbaiPolice
— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) January 4, 2022
There is a channel in Telegram named ‘Hindu Randiyan’
Link: https://t.co/auMkeZY1gk
This channel is targeting Hindu women, sharing the photos & abusing them.
This Channel was created on June 2021. Kindly act against the culprits who are behind this channel. pic.twitter.com/9w397FkdFQ
Anshul Saxena has tagged Mumbai Police, bringing to their attention the targeted harassment and potential sexual abuse of Hindu women via the channel.
After Anshul shared the tweet, some people started asking why the government is not taking action against such platforms.
Anshul’s tweet has received over 6000 retweets so far. A social media user named Meera Mohanty had asked Anshul why he is not asking the IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw or the Home Minister to take action against such channels, ‘if he is actually concerned about them’.
Taking cognisance of the tweet where he was tagged, the IT minister replied that he has initiated action against that particular Telegram channel and it has been blocked.
Channel blocked. Government of India coordinating with police authorities of states for action. https://t.co/kCB6Ys8TI2
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 5, 2022
IT Minister Vaishnaw stated that the channel has been blocked and the government of India is coordinating with police authorities of states for further action against the persons responsible for the channel. However, the Mumbai Police, which was tagged in the original tweet by Anshul, is yet to respond to it.
Anshul had shared later that the particular account has been reported and removed.
Update: Account reported & removed. pic.twitter.com/5UE9gf8ted
— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) January 5, 2022
There are several other platforms and channels that are sharing images of Hindu women with derogatory messages, often sexually explicit and with potential criminal intentions, including threats of rape and gang rape.
Anshul had drawn attention to a number of Facebook pages that are sharing similar content, sexual images and threats directed towards Hindu women. Union Minister for Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar has responded to it, stating that the Ministry of Electronics and IT has been alerted about it, and will ask Facebook to take those pages down.
Hv directed @GoI_MeitY team to inform @Meta n hv it taken down https://t.co/yxzcAtyqig
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) January 5, 2022
It is notable here that yesterday on January 4, the Mumbai Police had arrested a 21-year-old man named Vishal and an 18-year-old girl named Shweta for making an app named ‘Bulli Bai’ that shared images of Muslim women.
