Kochi: The cyber cell of the Kerala police has identified 24 people who insulted college student Hanan Hamid through social media last week. Of them, 10 had used extremely foul language against the 20-year-old student, while the rest in the list enabled such posts to spread across Facebook.
On Monday, investigators questioned four more people who were arrested in the case and they exclude the ones who were arrested earlier - K Viswanathan of Guruvayur, Kollam native Siyad and Wayanad-native Noorudeen Sheikh, who had started a Facebook campaign against Hanan. While the four who were interrogated on Monday were let off, the cyber cell did get information about as many non-resident Keralites who had been part of the anti-Hanan drive.
It all began a week ago when Sheikh put out a Facebook post that claimed Hanan, who has done minor roles in films, was trying to build a fake image of herself as a toiling breadwinner of a poor family with the aim of catching a leading actor's attention. Sheikh had triggered the cyberbullying by claiming in the live video post that the Kochi youth was looking for an acting chance in Malayalam cinema by pretending to be a fish-seller. That post went viral with several people sharing it, generating memes and online comments in a big way.
State police DGP Lokanath Behara had instructed his personnel to act sternly against those showing criminal tendencies in the cyberworld in general and on social media in particular. On critical occasions, the local police can avail help from the force’s Thiruvananthapuram-based Cyberdome that is engaged in countering long-term security challenges in the world of internet.
The police headquarters is readying a list of state police officers with B Tech and M Tech in electronic engineering. The short-listed will be given specialised training in cybercrime investigation, and posted at the district headquarters of the police.
The police will also seek the help of Interpol’s Kerala-level nodal agency, Crime Branch, to enable prosecution of Malayalis living abroad and indulging in cyberbullying of people of the state. It has come to light that a few victims of such hounding are seeking the help of private cyber detectives. Steps are on to make the local police capable of collective proof against alleged cyberbullies, official sources said.
Civic kiosk for Hanan
Thodupuzha: The Kochi municipal corporation will open for Hanan a kiosk at the Kochi suburb of Thammanam, where she had been selling fish in the evenings. Hanan had said it was a small business with better prospects. Local legislator P J Joseph and Kochi mayor Soumini Jain, meanwhile, visited Hanan at the Al Azhar College of Arts and Science where Hanan is doing her final-year B Sc in Chemistry. The college authorities, meanwhile, have taken steps to ensure that the shocking cybercrime wouldn’t affect Hanan’s academic pursuits. The student also wanted an end to bullying by netizens and check chances of a fake Facebook profile coming up in her name.
