By Shruti Sunderraman

In a massive case of online harassment, Dhanya Rajendran, Editor-in-Chief of The News Minute, has been subjected to abusive tweets for criticising actor Vijay’s film Sura. It started on August 4 and has been going on ever since.

Among a flurry of demeaning messages, she also received rape threats. Tweets trolling her have gone up to a staggering 63,000 in number. She filed a police complaint on August 8 with the Chennai police against four of her abusers and after investigation, the police have lodged an FIR. According to a report, the complaints have been registered under IPC sections 354 D (stalking), 506(1) (criminal intimidation), 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication), 509 (insulting the modesty of women), section 67 of IT Act (publishing obscene material), section 4 of TN Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, and section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women Act.

What was even more annoying was how actor Vijay maintained his silence through this ordeal in spite of multiple attempts by Twitterati to bring this to his notice. Yesterday finally, the Tamil actor, in a statement, urged his fans to respect others’ opinions. “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,” he told Hindustan Times.

But the fact that it took him four days to even release a statement, which doesn’t even contain a line of condemnation of his fans’ behaviour is just a weak response. This staid response could’ve at least been tweeted without waiting four days. Dhanya, on her part, was quick with her thank you.

It all started when, in a tweet, Rajendran had expressed her dislike for Shah Rukh Khan-starrer When Harry Met Sejal by comparing it to Tamil actor Vijay’s movie Sura. 

She’d expressed that the former was worse than Sura — that she’d at least stayed till the interval for the Tamil movie, something she couldn’t being herself to do for When Harry Met Sejal. She’d also retweeted a conversation with her friend in which they playfully went all thoo-thoo on Vijay’s films. The sound of a woman opening her mouth seems to echoed off all the trolls’ walls because what they did is alarming, let alone disgusting.

Rajendran started receiving abusive messages on Facebook and Twitter by trolls and fanatics of Vijay from August 4. She was slut-shamed, called a ‘whore’, ‘bitch’, among other things. But the most shocking part of these abuses is how they all appear to have been co-ordinated and periodically planned.

Is this kind of trolling unorganised? Definitely, not. Tweet was sent before 6 pm asking me to wait. And they started the hashtag at 6 pm pic.twitter.com/lwpYYQmyRM

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 7, 2017

And then at 6.05 pm, the same handle tweets the hashtag. An organised activity pic.twitter.com/5YNI0EuHai

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 7, 2017

Throughout the weekend, her abusers went on to post shameful messages about Rajendran, calling her “attention-seeking” and publicity-hungry. They thought they were being funny when they tweeted with the hashtag #PublicityBeepDhanya. Twitter India has since blacklisted the hashtag and blocked four of the troll accounts she booked complaints against.

#publicitybeepdhanya is now trending in Indiahttps://t.co/WPuFGMHaAs pic.twitter.com/iVCpYJhp4x

— Trendsmap India (@TrendsmapIndia) August 6, 2017

Rajendran had had enough and decided to speak up against it.

Please to bear with my rant.

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 7, 2017

So, bullying and abusing a woman is not a brave thing to do. And it is sad to think these are people living among us.

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 7, 2017

Now all those screenshots that FBI and KGB have collected. In 2011, I was pulling the leg of a friend on Twitter. I manually RTed his tweet pic.twitter.com/gNzQqfvRYX

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 7, 2017

Just asked Chennai Police Commissioner. He said I should take a few screenshots and file a case. So will do just that.

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 6, 2017

But the trolls remorselessly went on with the abuse. They didn’t pause for a single day since August 4 to today in spite of being being called out on their abuse. Rajendran was told that “she only reaped what she sowed”.

Just have seen all the tweets of #PublicityBeepDhanya, she deserves the abuses. No point n blaming #Vijay fans. It’s just a response to her. pic.twitter.com/QDNGkbgqJs

— Hari Prabhakaran (@Hariadmk) August 6, 2017

One Twitter user, a self-proclaimed fan of actor Ajith (who, like Vijay commands a large fan base in Tamil Nadu), warned her against speaking up against Ajith.

Wanna convey 1thing under tis tag ! Think twice before u spk against #Thalapathy ! U wil get back thrice of it frm us👍#PublicityBeepDhanya

— Rajĸυмaя ♥ (@Rajj8990) August 6, 2017

A lot of people have come to show solidarity for Rajendran. MK Stalin, DMK’s Working President, tweeted defending Rajendran’s right to freedom of speech.

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

Tamil singer Chinmayee also posted a video on her Facebook page defending Rajendran and urging people to take criticism lightly. She also shared a written post slamming Rajendran’s trolls.

Media outlets like Buzzfeed and NWMi (Network of Women in Media, India) and IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) have come out in solidarity for Rajendran.

Tamil cinema fans, especially, have a history of fanaticism with their beloved stars on screen. Ajith (called ‘thala’ – i.e. ‘leader’) and Vijay (called ‘illaya thalapathy’ – ‘younger leader’) command armies of loyal fans. And let’s not even go to Rajnikanth. Most Tams will tell you how they grew up in home where you were never allowed to speak a word against ‘thalaivar’. Sure, he, like many other Kollywood actors, are beloved and have an impressive body of work. But the violent defence for a word of dislike against these actors is jarring. Funnily, no female actress in Kollywood has garnered this kind of support or fanaticism. There’s almost a jingoistic fervour to the devotion for male film starts. Toxic masculinity, you are nicely showing.

Nothing justifies this staggering online abuse of a journalist for expressing something as innocent as a dislike for a movie. If an innocent opinion  is unofficially punishable, then neenga shut up panunga.