Gowry Lekshmi posted a screenshot of the abusive messages sent by Facebook user Mohan Bca after police failed to help her.Almost all the women celebrities are victims of cyber harassment – and the fact that it's no 'news' is even more horrifying. The number of abusive messages and comments they receive on their social media accounts is just mind-boggling. The victims keep blocking the abusers online, but it's an opened floodgate and there is no stopping them.
Recently, Keralite singer Gowry Lekshmi took to her Facebook account to name and shame a youngster, who abused her through messages on the social media platform. A screenshot posted by the singer shows that guy, who goes by the name Mohan Bca on Facebook, abused her in messages, wanted to know about her inner-wear and even tried to call her using Facebook Messenger.
The young singer said she decided to post the screenshot on Facebook after the police, who are supposed to be protecting those in distress, started questioning her as if she had committed a crime. That's the sorry state of affairs a woman has to deal with.
Along with the screenshot, Gowry wrote: “So this guy is so desperate. I reported in cyber cell yesterday regarding this..Everything was cool till I got a call today from the police station and the SI was talking like I did something wrong. Now I clearly understand why women never go to police stations to report this kind of harassment.Whatever,let me see what can I do about this..” (sic).
Mohan sent abusive messages to Gowry Lekshmi through Facebook Messenger.Many in her friends' list expressed their support to Gowry, a south Indian playback singer who is popular among lovers of indie music.
But the worst was yet to come. There was this comment from another user who strongly believed that Gowry and 'the women of her kind' are also to be blamed for such incidents.
“All boys and girls do this; girls make it a big issue when someone misbehaves online. In fact, the girls are the ones who are allowing this to happen. A girl should add only those whom she knows on her social media accounts. If not for more likes and shares on Facebook, why are you accepting friend request from strangers? Girls only reply after so many 'Hi' messages. There won't be any problem if they just say a 'Hi' back or talk to them online. The girls are the ones who help it reach such a situation. If you put your head into it, you will know whose side the mistake is on,” he wrote in a comment.
A screenshot of the comment.In short, he was putting across this idea that Gowry Lekshmi was harassed online because of her 'own doings'.
Comments followed and many tried to put some sense into the man, but he was not relenting. Singers and musicians, including this year's Best Male Singer Award winner Sooraj Santhosh, Suchith Suresan, Sruthi Lakshmee and Arun Kailasan, retorted in strong and sarcastic language to the youngster, but he continued to say that Gowry, who is a victim of cyber harassing, was in fact the instigator of harassment.
The youth further backed up his allegations by pointing out that Gowry used an expletive at the abuser and that she did not block him from her list once he started abusing her.
Why Gowry didn't block her online abuser
However, a graceful Gowry Lekshmi laughed at his comments and also explained why she did not block the abuser at the first instance. “He can go to another girl nd do the same. Nd someone like u will tell her to block.. nd he will go to the next one .. rite? Great idea,” Gowry wrote in reply to another guy's comment.
Let's forget the celebrity tag associated to Gowry Lekshmi here. It's sickening that a woman, a victim of harassment, was let down by the police first and then blamed for the abuse she faced.
Double injustice to say the least, but is anyone listening?
