Fighting means you could lose. Bullying means you can't. A bully wants to beat somebody; he doesn't want to fight somebody: Andrew Vachss.
O
ut of bed in the wee hours of the morning, an hour at her study table, she pedals her way to the fish market miles away, returns back in an auto-rickshaw to Thammanam Junction loaded with the cycle and the bucket-full, stocks the fish with a neighbour -thus starts her day.
Hanan was good at anchoring. She did dubbing at studios and could create and deliver poems impromptu. The late cine actor Kala Bhavan Mani took her with his stage shows which eased her burden in funding her studies. The obstacles fizzled out before her will and fortitude. Hanan's story with her photograph published in Mathrubhumi daily ,selling fish wearing her college uniform with a plastic cap went viral on social media. Many have promised to help her. A debutant filmmaker, Arun Gopy offered her a role alongside Pranav Mohanlal in his upcoming film. Soon, the dyed in the wool traditionalists and sceptics opened a can of worms, cried wolf and vied to call it a "marketing stunt". Trolls trundled out and a vitriolic, high decibel campaign followed accusing her of feigning penury as she was found wearing a gold ring on her fingers, wearing gloves and sporting a nice haircut and neat clothes. Muslim fringes read the riot act to her for not wearing a headscarf, crypto-liberal crops drew daggers as the film had a Mohanlal-connect and the right-wing chauvinists upset with Mathrubhumi publishers over the crappy novelette that appeared in the weekly hauled her over the coals-all in the bandwagon were busy bowling beamers at the girl.
The heinous incidence invited wrath from like-minded cross sections of the society. Chief Minister Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan expressed support for the girl and called her a “real warrior”. Sri.Kannanthanam,central minister for tourism wrote on his Facebook page, Kerala sharks stop attacking #Hanan. I’m ashamed. Here is a girl trying to put together a shattered life. You vultures!.The opposition leader, Sri. Ramesh Chennithala spoke in support of Hanan. The Kerala Women’s Commission has registered a Suo Motu case against those who allegedly abused Hanan on social media.
As of July, Facebook is reported to have a total “potential audience” of 241 million active users in India, compared to 240 million in the US. Active users in India are up by 27% in the past six months alone (+50 million), compared to growth of 12% (+26 million) in the US over the same period. WhatsApp is the world’s largest messaging app in terms of its user base, which is well over 1 billion users in India. Restricting inflammatory contents in WhatsApp is close to impossible as they are end-to-end encrypted. Given that the WhatsApp team themselves cannott read the messages, they donot have a one-off solution to stop the spread of fake news.
Trolling or cyber-bullying is a growing global phenomenon and India is no exception. India has the third-highest number of cyber-bullying cases in the world. The perpetrators enjoy anonymity and go scot-free, unwhipped of justice, and uncensored by the community in which he lives.
According to 2016 NortonNSE Cyber Security Insights report, millennials are the most commonly affected victims globally, with 40 per cent experiencing it in the previous year. More than 55 per cent of millennials in India experienced cybercrime. The report said 39 per cent of Indian millennials either experienced ransomware themselves or knew someone who had. 18 per cent of millennial victims paid the ransom but did not gain access to their files
The consequences of such “fake news” are serious. Rumours forwarded via social media, especially on WhatsApp, have led to mob lynchings of innocent people falsely accused of being cow slaughterers, child kidnappers, or worse. In the last year alone, there have been 15 such lynchings across nine Indian states, resulting in 27 deaths.
Muhammed Asam, a techie in Karnataka's Bidar was lynched by a mob at Murki village in Karnataka following a series of venomous messages shared on WhatsApp warning locals that child-lifters are roaming on the streets. At least two men were killed and six injured after mobs attacked them in India's remote north-eastern state of Tripura. Videos made in Karachi years ago, pro bono to benefit children in Pakistan were linked to lynching in India. Dr Gleb Tsipursky who served as a professor at Ohio State University and the co-founder of Pro-Truth Pledge, an initiative to promote truthfulness, said, “lynchings in India are the most violent and deadly episodes of fake news-inspired violence.” A Hindu report warns.
Unsurprisingly the political parties have their own well-oiled, paid- political- hit squads called troll teams who pervade the cyberspace with toxic texts and viral vitriol. In India, as in many other countries, the digital spaces are distilleries of discontent, rife with rumours and falsehood that get disseminated with least rudimentary fact-checking.
There is no easy solution to declaw the cat.
Social media space is the stygian cavern where the cyber Nomrods, who revel in drudging out untruth lurking in the dark -jeer and hurl out opprobrious epithets on every passing pedestrian. The hunter-gatherers in the netherworld of their cyber sanctuary, two days back, have fletched their arrows on to a little girl Hanan in Ernakulam. At the receiving end, Hanan teary-eyed and with folded hands appeared before the TV and implored:”People are making false allegations that it was for promotion of a movie. I am not a fraud. I have no other income. My main aim is to continue studies and support the family.”
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the chief minister spoke about the interaction he had with Hanan after she visited him to thank him for his support.
“When Hanan was subjected to cyber attacks, the Kerala government had ensured her all the protection and had also arrested the perpetrators behind the attacks. She had visited to show her gratitude for the support,” the CM said.
Praising Hanan for her hard work, Pinarayi added, “It's a matter of great pride when one is self-dependent as a student. The satisfaction one gets is immense if they fund their studies with the money they earn. Only those who have gone through such experiences in life will understand it. Hanan did not just study, but she became the pillar of support for her family. When I understand her life experiences, I feel proud of her. Move ahead bravely, Hanan. Don't lose the confidence that you showed while battling difficult circumstances, Kerala is with you."
Doff our hats for the demure damsel in distress.
