Jaipur: A woman from Rajasthan allegedly received rape and death threats on social media on Sunday for tweeting about gymnast Dipa Karmakar's vault final at the Rio Olympics. Police registered a case after she approached Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on Twitter for help.
The External Affairs Minister referred the woman’s request to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, whose office issued orders to the Jaipur police to take immediate action against the culprits.
"After receiving directions, I met the girl on the night of August 14 and spoke to her about the matter. She filed a complaint and the FIR was lodged on August 15 with Pratap Nagar Police Station," DCP East Kunwar Rastradeep said on Wednesday.
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According to a report in NDTV, the woman named three Twitter handles in her complaint to the police.
"...I have faced life and rape threats generally and particularly from the handles @thedrunkrider, @rajeshraj927 and @vivekMmishra and attacks on my modesty as a woman," she told the police.
A case against three Twitter handles of unknown persons was registered under 66 D (Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) and 67 (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the IT act, police said. They are now trying to identify the accused.
"We are in the process of obtaining some IP addresses and are writing to Twitter seeking information about certain the handles,” Rastradeep said, adding that it will take some time to reach to the users as their servers are located outside India.
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In a series of tweets on August 14, the woman wrote, "Conflicted about Dipa Karmakar's Olympic Vault final. It is an incredible achievement, of course, but gymnasts from richer countries don't have to perform the produnova, called the death vault, to gain points.”
"They can do easier vaults and execute it better because: better infrastructure, better training, better everything. Tonight, she is going to risk her life to win an Olympic medal. Life is not worth any medal, for any damned country,” she said, drawing criticism and abuse from some social media users.
