A case has been filed against a cyber bully who threatened to rape actor Vijay Sethupathi’s daughter.
Vijay Sethupathi exited from Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan's biopic titled, 800. Ever since the movie was announced, the film hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
While only a very few people supported the actor, many including celebs asked him to withdraw himself from the project. The actor was trolled and his family was also targetted on social media.
A user, who goes by the name Rithik (Handle: @ItsRithikRajh), issued rape threat against Vijay Sethupathi's daughter and further wrote, "in order for her father to understand the difficult lives led by Tamils in Sri Lanka." Calling Vijay Sethupathi, a traitor of Tamil people, he issued the threat on Twitter.
The user has deleted his Twitter account and police are investigating the case. Chennai’s police Commissioner Mahesh Aggarwal took to Twitter and wrote, “There has been lot of concern in social media regarding comments made in social media against a celebrity. On receipt of complaint to this effect a case in Cyber Cell has been registered.”
The rape threat tweet went viral and many celebs condemned the behaviour.
In a tweet, Kanimozhi said: "The perverse intimidation of Vijay Sethupathi's #daughter is not only barbaric but extremely dangerous to the very fabric of our society.
"Making women and children the soft targets is a cowardly act. The police should take stern action against the perpetrator."
Talking about it, singer Chinmayi wrote, “Why does this crappy society do this? Watch silently when this happens? How are men raised to speak out a rape threat? Why is it when adults fight like hyenas, the women and children have to suffer? Shame on all of you who do it and those who watch and remain silent.”
While people such as Congress MP Karti P. Chidambaram, actor-turned-politician All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi founder R.Sarathkumar and his wife and actor Radhikaa Sarathkumar had voiced their support for Sethupathi, the Tamil movie world was largely silent.
Even the South Indian Artistes' Association, popularly known as Nadigar Sangam, the body representing the interests of actors, maintained silence on the issue.
This is not the first time such a behavior is seen in the cyber world. Cricketer MS Dhoni's daughter got a similar rape threat. Dhoni's five-year-old old daughter Ziva Dhoni was targeted by trolls in the wake of Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 13. In the aftermath of the shocking incident, a 16-year-old boy was nabbed by the Gujarat Police.
