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A DU graduate received rape, murder, and possible dis-figuration threats for criticising a matrimonial ad. The hate mail was sent from  an encrypted email id. 

Warning – The report contains a screenshot of the email, which includes rape and violence threats. 

A recent outlash in the form of email threats was received to a Delhi University pass out. The letter was filled with rape threats as disclosed in the images attached to the article. The mail was in response to the aggrieved stating out her opinions in regard to a matrimonial advertisement posted in The Hindu on Sunday, 9th September, 2018.

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A few days ago, Priyanshu received the mail after reaching out to oppose the marital ad. The content of the advertisement chided and requested the potential bride to “non-feminist”, receiving angered reactions from the culprit. It was after stating her point on this advertisement, that she and her fellow friend received vulgar and tawdry messages from a username: ROOTswap threatening to rape them and claiming himself to be a “masculine warrior killer and rapist of all feminists…”.

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Anupreet Kaur

The victim states: “I was utterly shocked to have received such a vulgar message. It does not seem like a joke, as no one would stoop down to such a limit, my friend and I are genuinely disturbed by it”.  While this has been brought into limelight hitherto, there are suspicions that they may have targeted more women with such threats.

Unfortunately, she adds that “the email id is encrypted with the protonmail interface.” Within the brief period twenty-four hours she received another mail, harassing with all sorts of guts and gore threats, in exchange for her GPS location and pictures. The mail also included his offering of money in exchange for spending time with him- the condition being the girl to be ‘fair’ and ‘good-looking’.  The note ended with a threat of murder and possible disfiguring.

The mail has been sent to The Hindu headquarters to ensure a background check is undertaken of the culprit. The aid from the legal team may prove relief in such hard times. She further adds, “It is a good thing we have been receiving a good response from fellow users who are trying to win justice over from our side, it makes me happy that we know people are out there who support us”.

While online harassing for women is equally disturbing and traumatic, cyber security measures should be undertaken even more strictly and such issues should be discussed and circulated to create a strong voice.

It is problematic that the cost of voicing one’s opinion, especially for women in this country is apparently not greeted with appreciation but with rape threats. 

Feature Image Credits – Anupreet Kaur

Avnika Chhikara 

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