Disclaimer: The article contains strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.
The country of 1.33 billion people was recently raging when a filmmaker made a movie about an alleged racket that has been going on in one of its states. Several people across the country protested against the screening of the Indian Hindi-language drama film ‘The Kerala Story’, directed by Sudipto Sen, after which many states banned the film.
After the movie was released for public viewing, many people had diverse opinions on it. Since many theories were floating around, a YouTuber, Dhruv Rathee also did some digging and shared his opinions about the film and the facts and figures shown in it.
View this post on Instagram
It’s understandable that not everyone will agree with his opinions and would have contradictory views. However, some of us clearly don’t know how to express criticism. They think sending hate-filled and abusive texts to the creator and their family is the ultimate way to ‘teach them a lesson’ for having a different opinion than theirs. After Dhruv shared this controversial YT video, his wife Juli Lbr-Rathee was flooded with rape threats.
Taking to Twitter, Dhruv shared screengrabs of the Instagram messages and the emails they both received. Some of them were rape threats to Juli because her husband dared to speak his mind on the internet.
These are the kind of messages my foreigner wife has been receiving since past few days
First 3 are typical instagram messages she received, last one is typical type of emails I received. Irony is that these people probably think they care about women and development of nation. pic.twitter.com/6rKN6rxq99
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) May 18, 2023
After he tweeted about it, many people came in support of him lashing the desktop warriors who are just here to spread hate.
Strongly condemn such language for anyone . Difference of opinion is ok but not to bring families into this ..
— VC (@varun_2016) May 18, 2023
These are sanskari messages … Ignore and continue your good work.
— Tejasvi ತೇಜಸ್ವಿ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ (@tejasv2) May 18, 2023
More power to you @dhruv_rathee .. you are slaying RW fake news like anything through your Youtube .. Keep it up buddy !!
— Debipada Nanda (@debipadan) May 18, 2023
Very unfortunate Dhruv. Your wife should report it to the local cybercrime office or relevant organization in your country and document it with them.
Stay strong 💪— Dr. Sameer Gupta (@SGuptaMD) May 18, 2023
sorry u have to face this🙏
— Vishweshwar Raste (@VMRaste) May 18, 2023
Sorry to see this, @dhruv_rathee. Unfortunately, it’s not surprising, given the polarized environment. Your work is great, your fact checks make an impact & your reach keeps increasing. Keep up your good work of debunking propaganda, as you did in fact checking #TheKeralaStory.
— Kanishka Raj Singh (@Kanishka183) May 18, 2023
Its their culture. They are the thekedar of Nationalism and Hindusim.
Shame on these people.
— Ayush Jain (@aestheticayush6) May 18, 2023
Sorry bro. Thanks for doing what you are doing. Keep up the spirits. For every bad message, know that there are a 100 hearts praying for you.
— Ask1RightQuestion (@Ask1RightQ) May 18, 2023
Dear @dhruv_rathee
Strong respect and support for you husband and wife.Stay Strong 💪💪
— Mohd Abdul Sattar (@SattarFarooqui) May 18, 2023
This is not an isolated incident where a creator and the females associated with him are threatened and sent rape threats for expressing their opinions which is a fundamental right in the country. Is this how our country will support and protect its women?