Cops yet to act on Michael's plea against vile torrent calling him names in Facebook
Bangalore, Oct 20 : The case of the engineering student from Manipur who was allegedly assaulted for not knowing Kannada on Tuesday night has taken a new twist. The 26-year-old approached the police on Saturday requesting them to take action against a woman who allegedly called him a "swine" on social media and said he "should be stoned to death".
T Michael Lamjathang Haokip alleged that a Facebook user, Priyanka Ravi, posted inflammatory comments about him online and assassinated his character by making false claims that the victim was in Kothanur that fateful night trying to "convert poor families to Christianity" which is why he was attacked, and not because he didn't know Kannada.
"At first, I found the situation rather amusing, since I am not even Christian to begin with. But I realised I could not stay quiet as this discrimination and hatred is unwarranted. I did nothing to deserve being beaten up, and the words used by the woman online are derogatory. It was my juniors in college who brought her post to my notice, and I immediately shot off an email to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-east) on his official mail ID on Saturday. I received a reply saying someone would contact me from the Kothanur Police Station. But so far, I haven't heard from them," Michael told Mirror.
One of the comments the woman made read: "And by the way, they hit him because he was trying to convert people here and not because he didn't know Kannada as reported by our paid sickular media."
When another user, Akshatha S B, commented that she had mutual friends with Michael and that they had never discussed religion, Priyanka replied: "Ooh, grow up! He was not a fool to do religion based conversations (sic) in an educational institution. He targeted poor families in the Hennur region and obviously people who are involved in conversations won't go around talking about it openly. As I said earlier, don't comment if you don't know the other side of the story!"
The woman then raised the vitriol level, "A person involved in religious conversions should be stoned to death, not just hit. I don't care if he speaks Kannada or Persian, he was involved in an illegal activity and he got what he deserved."
'COPS SLOW TO REACT'
Michael, meanwhile, claims the police have been slow to react. "I have been waiting for a call or some sort of action, but sadly, there has been nothing so far. I even complained on the Bangalore City Police Facebook Page, providing the link to her post, and asked the Cyber Crime Cell to take action. "She seems like some sort of fanatic who is bent on dragging religion into the incident," he said.
When contacted, DCP (North-east) Vikash Kumar Vikash said, "I will have to go through the email. But we will look into the matter." Priyanka Ravi remained unavailable for comment.
To put things in context, around 9:30 pm last Tuesday, Michael and two friends stopped at a roadside eatery on Kothanur Main Road for dinner. The trio was returning from the Kothanur police station, barely a kilometre away, where they had distributed invitations for a community event on November 1.
A group of three drunken youths sitting at the next table allegedly objected to the boys speaking in English and demanded that they speak in Kannada since they were "eating food in Karnataka". An argument ensued and the youths bashed up the students. Michael was attacked with a chair and stones and sustained injuries on his head, neck, shoulder, and back. A case was registered at the Kothanur Police Station and the youths were arrested immediately.
BULK SMS'es OF 2012
In early August 2012, bulk SMSes, emails, and messages began circulating warning people from the North-east to leave Bangalore and other cities before 20 August. This created panic among members of the North-eastern community in the city, who began fleeing in hordes after some people were attacked. Soon, 16 miscreants were arrested in Bangalore: eight for spreading rumours that led to the flight, and eight for assault.
Bangalore, Oct 20 : The case of the engineering student from Manipur who was allegedly assaulted for not knowing Kannada on Tuesday night has taken a new twist. The 26-year-old approached the police on Saturday requesting them to take action against a woman who allegedly called him a "swine" on social media and said he "should be stoned to death".
T Michael Lamjathang Haokip alleged that a Facebook user, Priyanka Ravi, posted inflammatory comments about him online and assassinated his character by making false claims that the victim was in Kothanur that fateful night trying to "convert poor families to Christianity" which is why he was attacked, and not because he didn't know Kannada.
"At first, I found the situation rather amusing, since I am not even Christian to begin with. But I realised I could not stay quiet as this discrimination and hatred is unwarranted. I did nothing to deserve being beaten up, and the words used by the woman online are derogatory. It was my juniors in college who brought her post to my notice, and I immediately shot off an email to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-east) on his official mail ID on Saturday. I received a reply saying someone would contact me from the Kothanur Police Station. But so far, I haven't heard from them," Michael told Mirror.
One of the comments the woman made read: "And by the way, they hit him because he was trying to convert people here and not because he didn't know Kannada as reported by our paid sickular media."
When another user, Akshatha S B, commented that she had mutual friends with Michael and that they had never discussed religion, Priyanka replied: "Ooh, grow up! He was not a fool to do religion based conversations (sic) in an educational institution. He targeted poor families in the Hennur region and obviously people who are involved in conversations won't go around talking about it openly. As I said earlier, don't comment if you don't know the other side of the story!"
The woman then raised the vitriol level, "A person involved in religious conversions should be stoned to death, not just hit. I don't care if he speaks Kannada or Persian, he was involved in an illegal activity and he got what he deserved."
'COPS SLOW TO REACT'
Michael, meanwhile, claims the police have been slow to react. "I have been waiting for a call or some sort of action, but sadly, there has been nothing so far. I even complained on the Bangalore City Police Facebook Page, providing the link to her post, and asked the Cyber Crime Cell to take action. "She seems like some sort of fanatic who is bent on dragging religion into the incident," he said.
When contacted, DCP (North-east) Vikash Kumar Vikash said, "I will have to go through the email. But we will look into the matter." Priyanka Ravi remained unavailable for comment.
To put things in context, around 9:30 pm last Tuesday, Michael and two friends stopped at a roadside eatery on Kothanur Main Road for dinner. The trio was returning from the Kothanur police station, barely a kilometre away, where they had distributed invitations for a community event on November 1.
A group of three drunken youths sitting at the next table allegedly objected to the boys speaking in English and demanded that they speak in Kannada since they were "eating food in Karnataka". An argument ensued and the youths bashed up the students. Michael was attacked with a chair and stones and sustained injuries on his head, neck, shoulder, and back. A case was registered at the Kothanur Police Station and the youths were arrested immediately.
BULK SMS'es OF 2012
In early August 2012, bulk SMSes, emails, and messages began circulating warning people from the North-east to leave Bangalore and other cities before 20 August. This created panic among members of the North-eastern community in the city, who began fleeing in hordes after some people were attacked. Soon, 16 miscreants were arrested in Bangalore: eight for spreading rumours that led to the flight, and eight for assault.
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