It's a menace online. Men sending explicit messages because they think it is casual and women will just ignore it? When this happened with Sharmistha Mukherjee, Chief Congress Spokesperson and daughter of Pranab Mukherjee, she did not just leave the matter. She made sure she shames a certain Partha Mandal, her harasser on social media.
Presidents Daughter Sharmistha Mukerjee gets sexually harassed on Facebook,shames pervert who sent her obscene texts
Sharmistha put up a post on Facebook today with pictures of Mandal’s profile and his text messages to her on her phone. In the post, she also wrote, “This pervert Partha Mandal is sending me dirty sexual messages. My 1st reaction was to ignore & block him. But then I thought the silence wud encourage him to find other victims...”
She had already blocked the ‘pervert’ and reported him on Facebook but she thought that was not enough. She felt that there was a need for such people to be humiliated publicly so they wouldn't repeat this with anyone else. She urged all to spread the message and tag him so that such acts are taken strongly for people to not repeat it further.
The post has got 468 shares and 646 comments until now. While everyone saluted Sharmistha’s courage to put up a social media post, some requested her to file a police complaint. Currently over 82,000 people are talking about Sharmistha and about 52,000 people are talking about her harasser as shown by the social media platform if one searches for any of them. So evidently, this post has spread to several people as of now.
She told HT about the incident,“I decided to share the messages because there is a need for public exposure and public humiliation of such people. Generally girls or women block such a person. But that never helps because the offenders take advantage of the situation and humiliate others.”
She has also decided to file a complaint against her bully. She also told that she does not want a special treatment by the police just because she is the President’s daughter. “I want the police to be active in case of complaint lodged by any women. Therefore, I will quietly go to the police and lodge a complaint. I will fight as a general person. I will approach the police as a common person,” Sharmistha said.
These cases of virtual sexual harassment has become a concerning issue these days. When women are not really safe in physical surroundings, virtual space is no better to thrive. The evident messages Sharmistha’s harasser has sent are not only objectifying but also demeaning her dignity. This needs to be taken seriously by the state authority and by the public in general. For the harassers who think that they can get away from it easily, we need to take the matter in our hands and complaint about it as often as it happens.
Picture credit-Alchetron
/shethepeople/media/agency_attachments/2024/11/11/2024-11-11t082606806z-shethepeople-black-logo-2000-x-2000-px-1.png){kind=logo}
Follow Us/shethepeople/media/post_banners/M2U3Oh1gn91qCULiAKOv.jpg)