Journalist Rohini Singh Gets Rape Threats, Udaipur Police Take Action

Rohini Singh gets rape threats: Journalist Rohini Singh took to social media to share she received rape and death threats online. Udaipur Police have assured her due action will be taken against the perpetrator. 

Naming the Twitter account that sent her said messages, Singh claimed it was Udaipur-based and urged the state police to take action against the individual. "Dear @IgpUdaipur, this handle- @KViayan is sending me rape and murder threats on Twitter DM. He is Udaipur based. Bringing this criminal to your attention," she wrote Friday, also tagging Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. 

On Saturday, the state police informed on Twitter that a case was registered under Sections 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 of the Information Technology (IT) Act, with one Kapil Singh being questioned for sending the journalist threatening texts. 

पत्रकार रोहिणी सिंह को मर्डर एवं रेप की धमकी देने के मामले मे गोवर्धन विलास पुलिस थाना उदयपुर द्वारा प्रकरण सं 40/21 धारा 506,509 आईपीसी व 67 आईटी एक्ट में दर्ज कर आरोपी कपिल सिंह को हिरासत में लिया जाकर पुछताछ की जा रही है।

— Udaipur Range Police (@IgpUdaipur) January 30, 2021

Rohini Singh Gets Rape Threats, Thanks Udaipur Police For Action

Singh, who reports for The Wire, expressed disappointment over the matter. She wrote on Twitter that the identified accused was a male student aged 26, who had allegedly sent her threats under the belief she is "anti-national." In Hindi, she wrote, "It was a 26-year-old student who threatened to rape and murder me, it settled in his mind that a person speaking against the government is a traitor." 

In the same thread, she appealed to the Udaipur police to talk to the accused, make him understand, and leave him, since "somewhere I know that he did not sow this seed of hatred," she said. "The result of the widespread hatred of IT cells is that even small children today are threatening 'rape and murder.'" 

IT सेलों की फैलायी नफ़रत का अंजाम ये है कि छोटे छोटे बच्चे आज ‘बलात्कार और हत्या’ तक की धमकी दे रहे हैं। सरकारें तो बनती बिगड़ती हैं, पर क्या आप इस देश की आत्मा को ही मार देना चाहते हैं?

क्या आप ‘One Nation, One Thought’ लागू करना चाहते हैं? इतनी नफ़रत देश को कहाँ ले जाएगी?

— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) January 30, 2021

Other Women Journalists Receive Threats Online 

In what has become increasingly common, other women journalists in recent times too have complained of having received rape threats for doing their job. We reported earlier that award-winning journalist Neha Dixit shared her horrifying ordeal of being physically stalked and getting rape threats. "I only hope that by me putting this on record, there will be a push to demand more action and conviction in cases of physical threats against media professionals globally," she had written in a statement. 

Journalist Faye D’Souza also took to Instagram this week, saying that for her farmers’ protests reportage, “I’ve been called Randi, UC, Sanghi mouthpiece, faker, and many other colourful things by both sides of this story.”

A global survey last year had concluded that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of female respondents on a survey taken by 1210 international media workers said they had experienced online abuse, harassment, threats, and attacks, indicating a rise in online violence against women journalists. Read about it here. 

Image Credit: The New Indian Express