Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren promises action after being told that one of the perpetrators is from his state
Zafar Aafaq | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — In last two days, around Eid time, right-wing accounts have been preying on Muslim women by making lewd comments on photos of Pakistani women and auctioning pominent Muslim women on sale.
The abusive campaign has triggered outrage and these men are being called out hosting a live stream on YouTube.
Last night there was the most horrendous and sleazy targeting of Muslim women by certain handles. Women were being auctioned off and sleazy things were being said. How long will we tolerate this sort of sexual harassment of women and inciting of sexual violence?
— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) May 14, 2021
‘Liberal Doge Live’, a Youtube channel that produces Islamophobic and hateful content streamed pictures of women from Pakistan.
Apparently Indian RW men saw pictures of Pakistani girls celebrating Eid and made really disgusting comments, forcing them to pull the pics.
In this, Indian RW men aren’t bigoted at all. They would do the same to Indian women too.— Ajay Kamath (@ajay43) May 14, 2021
The channel has more than 14, 000 subscribers and posted photos of Pakistani women with the description that said, “quench your lust with your eyes.”
Congress social media coordinator Hasiba Amin expressed her anger after she was being subjected to online bidding where she was “sold to someone”. She said this was harassment.
WTF is this @Twitter @TwitterIndia. These people are placing bids to own me and this handle claims that I have been sold to someone. He says ‘enjoy brother’. The replies to his bidding tweet have people saying I can be used as pocha and some other shit. This is harassment! https://t.co/W4FxtsOj81
— Hasiba | حسيبة 🌈 (@HasibaAmin) May 13, 2021
Saket Gokhale, a Mumbai-based transparency activist, claimed that one of the persons behind the hate campaign is from Bihar.
Last night, there was a horrible targeting of Indian & Pakistani Muslim women by Sanghi IT cell.
One of the perps is @mba_bureaucrat. This person is P Mahto not Mehta. Son of Ramchandra Mahto – head of Munger Lawyer’s Assn, Bihar.
For your urgent action @bihar_police. pic.twitter.com/HuwTwrSSg1
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) May 14, 2021
Journalist Rohini Singh while expressing her outrage at the targeting of Muslims women asked Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to take action against one of the perpetrators who she said hailed from the state.
Following this, Soren wrote a tweet stating that the authorities have taken note of the matter and will take strict action after the probe.
.@JharkhandPolice मामले का संज्ञान लेते हुए मामले की जाँच करें एवं दोषियों पर कड़ी कार्रवाई सुनिश्चित करें। https://t.co/pi4hRDWoJN
— Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) May 14, 2021
After being called out, some of the accounts either took down the offensive content or locked their profiles.
For instance, the channel “Liberal Doge” seems to have deleted the content but is still on the platform. The cover image lampooning Muslims as dogs. It has a live Patreon page.
One of the men associated with the channel certain Keshu from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. He deactivated his Twitter account as soon as he was identified. However, Jaunpur Police it has asked the cyber wing to probe the account and collect information about the idea and follow with legal action.
Muslim women and activists are angry at social media companies for allowing such the sleazy and Islamophobic campaign which goes against their own set safety standards.
A 2020 report by Amnesty International blamed the social media giant of not doing enough to protect women from online abuse.
Every single day, RW scums achieve a new low. They have made life hell for the rest of us on social media. From abuses to threats to misusing pictures and actually auctioning women online, they are a reminder of why this country is no place for women. Please report this [email protected] too pic.twitter.com/NHej9fDFnT
— Sania Ahmad (@SaniaAhmad1111) May 13, 2021
This is not first time that Muslim women have had to face abuse of this form online.
Prominent women journalists and activists like Rana Ayyub, Arfa Khanum Sherwani and Safoora Zargar frequently face online abuse in the form of slurs, names calling, or their morphed obscene pictures are uploaded by right-wing accounts for their critical stance over policies of Modi government.
Right-wing accounts have been running a sustained campaign creating fake profiles of Muslim women and Hindu men where they are shown in a sexually degrading way, Muslim women are presented as slaves of Hindu men while as Muslim men as “weak”.
Even Shaheenbagh protest against CAA was not spared as accounts shared morphed adult visuals and passed them as women protestors.
Recently a video of a Hindu Raksha Dal activist Sukhdev Sahadev, went viral where he asks Hindi men to “create relationships” with Muslim women to weaken the community.
There is already a campaign–Beti Lao Bahu Bachao– going on from last few years asking Hindu men to marry Muslim women. The underlying message of the campaign matches with the philosophy of RSS and its ideologue VD Savarkar.