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Gurmehar Kaur Gets DCW Support Against Twitter Trolling

a Delhi University student, Gurmehar Kaur, was harassed on social media for putting up a simple video. The video she posted was about bringing harmony between India and Pakistan and how state-sponsored terrorism is actually behind the long-stretched war.

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Poorvi Gupta
New Update
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The Ramjas fracas was not enough. Now a Delhi University student, Gurmehar Kaur, was harassed on social media for putting up a video. The video she posted was about bringing harmony between India and Pakistan and how state-sponsored terrorism is actually behind the long-stretched war. It also mentioned why the girl was doing what she was doing and the reason being that she lost her father at the age of two in the 1999 Kargil War.

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Troll Trigger

The powerful video had not one but many messages. And many followers. One took it viral. Cricketer Virender Sehwag used the style of her video only put the focus on one line by the girl who said, “Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him”. The triple century scorer then trolled the girl and dismissed the video message.

Sehwag, being a social media influencer, gave way to many people following his line of tweet and trolling the girl. It also provoked other celebrities like Randeep Hooda commenting that the girl is being used as a “pawn”.

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Meanwhile, Kaur, who belongs to Jalandhar, also changed her Twitter profile picture in support of AISA. The picture showed her holding a placard that said, “I am a student of Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone, every student of India is with me.” This instigated ABVP members to start trolling the girl and cyber bullying her with rape threats and abusive language.

Gurmehar Kaur Gurmehar Kaur for DU peace project (Pic by Facebook)

ALSO READ: Ramjas fiasco: Police apathy, ABVP hooliganism and stone pelting on women

Formal Complaint

This led the Delhi Commission for Women to take charge of the situation and they had a meeting with Kaur. DCW chief, Swati Malliwal, told reporters today, “Gurmehar Kaur, who is the daughter of a Kargil war martyr and a student of DU, met me today. She complained that she is getting rape and murder threats on social media. She has even provided us with screenshots that show how some men are constantly harassing her.”

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“The Commission is of the view that urgent criminal action needs to be taken against the abusers. Ms. Kaur has also requested for police protection for herself and her family. Considering the gravity of the situation and the threats received, the Commission believes that her request has merit. It is therefore strongly recommended that the girl and her family be provided immediate police protection,” wrote Malliwal to the Commissioner of Police.

She has appealed for immediate action against the harassers of Kaur, “It is highly unfortunate that a strong and independent young girl is being threatened and abused for taking a stand against hooligans. It is deeply perturbing that the threats appear to have silent support of some celebrities and leaders as well.”

Malliwal has also requested the police to provide security to the girl and her family members.

Kaur has become the centre of attention for many. The saddest part is that she only wanted to promote peace between the two countries and in the universities. Sehwag and Hooda’s comments and tweets on Kaur’s picture degraded the cause she has been fighting for and their highly influential names have created more monsters who have not seen her video but are commenting on her integrity and her level of “nationalism” only by the nine words that Sehwag used in trolling her.

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Like the DCW chief mentioned, we really need to have an organised law for cyber bullying that actually delivers strict punishment to whoever trying to even threaten a person on social media. This kind of loose behaviour is inciting many individuals to harass women without any basis.

 
DCW Gurmehar Kaur Kargil war Swati Malliwal Voice of Ram
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