In the article “Social media is for grown ups” Savukku Shankar
makes atrocious and highly dangerous claims about the so-called acceptability
of abuse and blackmailing in facebook. He says it is normal for “opinionated”
users to be targeted by vicious groups in facebook and one should accept the
abuse and keep quiet. In the same vein one could ask whether Savukku Sankar
would take it In the chin if his wife, daughter, sister or mother is sexually
abused when they are out in the public space, since sexual abuse of women is a
common crime in India.
Just because some activity is commonly practised it can
not become normal, acceptable and something to be tolerated with maturity. Indulging
in online crime in the name of personal abuse and blackmailing or trolling should
be strictly punished under the law. The reason for the current situation where
Kavin Malar and Manushyaputran have been targeted with venemous attacks in
facebook has gone out of hand is because the police has failed to take action
against the culprits. In the present case the police apathy can be only
understood as a political game where the police see Manushyaputran and
KavinMalar as DMK sympathisers as opposed to the culprit Kishore. K Swami as an
ADMK supporter. When sunger Chinmayi was similarly sexually abused and harassed
by Rajan Leaks last year, police rushed into action since a) the actress had
strong influence in the higher runks of police force, and b) chief minister
J.Jayalalitha was portrayed in bad taste in some of the twitter comments. In
fact the comments by Rajan Leaks on the private parts of the chief minister was
extremely vulgar and bordering on sadism and malechauvenism. That incident
showed that online trolls would go to any extent to harass a person even If
that person is a VIP and they would not hesitate to graphically describe the
private parts of a chief minister, in the garb of online freedom and the false
notion that online crime is beyond the realms of legal recourse. If the police
had followed up the other cases of online abuse, bullying and crime with some
consistency without concerning themselves over the political alliances of the
culprits, such a huge peeking of online abuse would not have happened. Instead
the police have decided to be choosy and picky with regard to whom to punish
and whom to let go scotfree, and result is social networking space has become a
free for all and women, dalits, and the other marginalized sections of the
society have had to bear the brunt of abuse and vulgarity from regressive and anti-social elements.
Another aspect of this case is the criminal motive hidden
behind such abuses in the name of Tamil nationalism and right-wing politics. Savukku
Shankar routinely publishes libellous articles with the aim of harassing,
scaring and eventually extracting money from the affected individuals. Recently
Savukku published a highly obscene article on the sex life of Sun tv anchor and
lawyer Mahalakshmi. A case of defamation has been filed against Savukku Sankar by
Mahalakshmi. He published a similar vulgar article of yellow journalism type
against manushyaputran where he made many incontestible claims about
Manushyaputran’s personal life. But unfortunately Manushyaputran chose not to sue
Savukku Shankar, and as a result Shankar’s vicious personal attacks have
multiplied now. Certain details in that vulgar and defamatory piece were
surprisingly only known to close friends and family members of Manushyaputran.
How these personal details reached the ears of Savukk Shankar is a mystery. The
widely held suspicion is that a friend-turned rival of Manushyaputran, who is a
poet and relative of Manushyaputran and also a card-holding member and functionary
of DMK, is deeply chagrained and upset over the overwhelming response he
received over his speech at Karunanidhi’s 90th birthday function.
The above-said person is said to be instigating Savukku Shankar and Kishore. K
Swamy against Manusypautran and giving them many private details of
Manushyaputran to the duo to be used against him in the filthiest way. Savukku
Shankar and Kishore.K Swamy are said to be mere fronts for the above said
politicians personal vendetta against Manushyaputran. In a sense all the
mud-slingling aimed at Manushyaputran is not induced by his supposed siding
with the DMK leader, but rather initiated and remote controlled by a politician
from the same party.