BENGALURU: A tweet by a human rights activist on the Udupi incident where a mobile phone was secretly kept in the women’s washroom of a paramedical college to film Hindu girls has taken a curious twist with the Udupi police visiting the activist’s house and the BJP jumping in to her defence.
Only July 24, Rashmi Samant, who describes herself as a human rights activist and former president of the University of Oxfor students’ union, in a series of tweets, said, “I’m from Udupi and nobody is talking about Alimatul Shaifa, Shabanaz and Aliya who placed cameras in female toilets of their college to record hundreds of unsuspecting Hindu girls. Videos and phots that were then circulated in community WhatsApp groups by the perpetrators”.
I'm from Udupi and nobody is talking about Alimatul Shaifa, Shabanaz and Aliya who placed cameras in female toilets of their college to record hundreds of unsuspecting Hindu girls. Videos and phots that were then circulated in community WhatsApp groups by the perpetrators.
— Rashmi Samant (@RashmiDVS) July 23, 2023
“Let me tell you, many of the girls who were featured in the videos are depressed and disturbed to the extent that they are contemplating self-harm/suicide. Yet, this issue is not being condemned with the severity it deserves”, she wrote. Likening the incident to the 1992 Ajmer incident where hundreds of girls were blackmailed and raped, she said, “If you have one last bone of conscience left in you, talk about what happened to the Hindu girls in Udupi so that they don’t dare to mess with our girls again”.
Will @PoliceUdupi take action against these accounts for amplifying misinformation related to Udupi?
C'C: @DrParameshwara @DgpKarnataka @HMOKarnataka pic.twitter.com/XY0e5f4FBB
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) July 24, 2023
Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair then tweeted screenshots of posts by author and speaker Shefali Vaidya, Rashmi Samat and entrepreneur Arun Pudur saying, “Will @PoliceUdupi take action against these accounts for amplifying misinformation related to Udupi?” and tagged Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara, the state DGP and the Home Minister’s Office.
1. At 8:00 PM this evening, a group of policemen visited the residence of my client, @RashmiDVS . As Rashmi was not at home at the time, it was her parents who were questioned by the police and repeatedly asked about Rashmi’s whereabouts.
— Adhitya Srinivasan (@ads_0013) July 24, 2023
Meanwhile, advocate Adhitya Srinivasan claimed that a police team had visited the the residence of his client Rashmi Samant and questioned her parents about her whereabouts.
On Tuesday, the state BJP unit tweeted from its handle, “The anti-Hindu @INCKarnataka govt is now normalising intimidation and harassment against Hindus for standing against institutional persecution”.
The anti-Hindu @INCKarnataka govt is now normalising intimidation and harassment against Hindus for standing against institutional persecution.
On the instruction of Jihadi elements, the Siddaramaiah govt has unleashed its police force to target an Indian citizen for tweeting…
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) July 25, 2023
“On the instruction of Jihadi elements, the Siddaramaiah govt has unleashed its police force to target an Indian citizen for tweeting about the students Alimatul Shaifa, Shabanaz and Aliya, who secretly placed cameras to record videos of their Hindu classmates”.
“On what provisions of the law did the @INCKarnataka govt send police to Rashmi’s house, especially at night & also harass her parents by repeatedly calling them? Is govt taking orders from extra-constitutional entities?” “BJP condemns this high-handedness of Siddaramaiah govt”, the state BJP said.
ಉಡುಪಿಯ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಅಮಾನುಷ ಘಟನೆ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನಿರುವ ಸರ್ಕಾರವನ್ನು ಪ್ರಶ್ನಿಸಿದ, ಹಿಂದೂ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳ ಪರ ಧ್ವನಿಯಾದ @RashmiDVS ಅವರ ಮನೆಗೆ ರಾಜ್ಯದ ತುಘಲಕ್ ಸರ್ಕಾರವು ಪೋಲಿಸರನ್ನು ಕಳುಹಿಸಿ ಬೆದರಿಸುವ ತಂತ್ರ ಮಾಡಿದೆ!
ಆದರೆ ಫೇಕ್ ನ್ಯೂಸ್ ಎಂದು ಸುಳ್ಳು ಹಬ್ಬಿಸುವರಿಗೆ ರಾಜ ಮರ್ಯಾದೆ ಕೊಡುತ್ತಿದೆ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರ.
1/2
— Nalinkumar Kateel (@nalinkateel) July 25, 2023
Party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel tweeted saying at the ‘Tughlaq government’ is intimidating Rashmi Samant for questioning the government’s inaction and standing with the Hindu girl students. He also stated that the government was according grand honour for those spreading fake news. “The Congress government is trying to muzzle the voices of pro-Hindu activists”, Kateel said. Assuring support to Rashmi, he said the BJP will launch a statewide agitation if the Congress government does not give up its ‘indimidation tactics’.
Karnataka police have visited the residence of @RashmiDVS for stating the truth.
I am not surprised that the CONgress government is using police to strangle the truth. It has been the practice of CONgress to silence truth that tries to expose its agenda. pic.twitter.com/ERId38bfb9
— C T Ravi ???????? ಸಿ ಟಿ ರವಿ (@CTRavi_BJP) July 25, 2023
Party national general secretary C T Ravi tweeted, “Karnataka police have visited the residence of @RashmiDVS
for stating the truth. I am not surprised that the CONgress government is using police to strangle the truth. It has been the practice of CONgress to silence truth that tries to expose its agenda”.
BJP leader Basanagouda R Patil Yatnal tweeted in Kannada questioning if the police team had visited Rashmi’s house at night to threaten the family. “Do the police intimidate people for speaking the truth in a democracy?” he questioned and demanded action against the Udupi police superintendent.
ರಾತ್ರಿ ರಶ್ಮಿಯವರ ಮನೆಗೆ ಪೊಲೀಸರನ್ನು ಭಯಪಡಿಸಲು ಕಳಿಸಿದ್ರಾ?
ಪ್ರಜಾಪ್ರಭುತ್ವ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ಯ ಹೇಳಿದರೂ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ಕಿರುಕುಳವಾ? @PoliceUdupi what's happening? @DgpKarnataka @HithendrarR ನಿಮ್ಮ ಜಿಲ್ಲಾ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ವರಿಷ್ಠಾಧಿಕಾರಿಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ರಮ ಕೈಗೊಳ್ಳಿ, ಅವರಿಗೆ ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಮಾಡಬೇಕಿದ್ರೆ ರಾಜೀನಾಮೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟು… https://t.co/rPvSwPsyrd
— Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) (@BasanagoudaBJP) July 25, 2023
Meanwhile, Udupi SP Hakay Akshay Machhindra addressed a press conference today and clarified that they had checked the Twitter account of Rashmi Samant after she posted the tweet. “We spoke to the family in connection with the tweet. There was no other mala fide intention”, he claimed.
He said information about the incident is being shared on social media with different spins, but said that the police have no information about filming of girls with a hidden camera. “We are monitoring to check of the video is doing the rounds and also about the alleged blackmail. The video is being shared with voice edits and it is wrong to share it without knowing the facts of the case. We are monitoring Facebook and WhatsApp”, he said.
The SP also said that they have not got any evidence to register a suo motu case and added that no photographs or videos were found on the mobile phone of the girls who had planted it in the women’s washroom of the college. “They have given a handwritten undertaking that they are all friends and that they did it only for fun”, he noted. He also appealed to people to share any evidence they may have, but advised them not to share fake information.