CHENNAI: Her trauma is not over. She was the prime witness of her husband’s murder, of which the main accused was her own father. The recent court verdict has hit her hard. As if that was not bad enough, Kausalya is now a subject of abuse on social media. She has been at the receiving end of these abuses ever since her husband Shankar, a Dalit by birth, was murdered in 2016.
The online trolls believe it is she who is to be blamed for Shankar’s death, as Kausalya belonged to a dominant caste. Recently, the 23-year-old was also “slut-shamed” and threatened with murder after she revealed her plans to move the Supreme Court against the HC verdict acquitting her father Chinnasamy.
Though a large chunk of social media users including advocates, activists and politicians have expressed their anguish and shock over the order, an equal number of people, who mostly identified themselves as sympathisers of few political parties and inter-mediate and upper caste organisations, have welcomed the judgment. A Twitter handle named Laxmi (@Deppa2), which identified itself as a “Hindu Indian” in the profile, slut-shamed Kausalya for remarrying.
A Facebook user named Mylai Rama, shared a picture of Kausalya and wrote a message in Tamil, that translates to: “Calm down Kausalya! Eventually, you will also get killed, for which your parents will be given death sentence.” The post attracted hate comments from many. A profile identified as Beena Raksha commented that Kausalya was “a characterless woman with no conscience”.
‘Result of feudal mentality’
Whenever a woman’s behaviour questions the patriarchal ideas, she is subjected to abuse, said Kavitha Gajendran, an activist with All India Democratic Women's Association. “The abuse against Kausalya was a result of feudal mentality in our society. They amount to harassment, but inaction of the Cyber Crime wing of the police is to be blamed for this toxic atmosphere,” she said.