Recently you all must have gone through news with heading “A 21 year old girl commits suicide when her morphed photographs appeared on Facebook”. Everyone read this like any ordinary news. Are you too one of them? Do you think it is something to be forgotten in an era when even a school going kid is very active on social media? Remember, every piece of news is ordinary until it is about you or your dear ones.
The question arises how far social media can go in affecting and even taking lives, not to forget the deaths happening in course of taking selfies. How do “likes” on social media become more precious than lives? You remember the Infosys employee S. Swathi who got killed because she offended someone in her friend list on Facebook who had the audacity to cut her throat in daylight at a public place like railway station. And on this issue you can easily see comments saying she was foolish to add someone like him on her Facebook account as if every Facebook friend of you has a right to slash your throat. And yes as a convention to blame females for whatever happens to them, you will also find articles saying – lessons girls need to learn from Swathi’s murder.
Well, let’s talk about Vinupriya, a 21 year old girl who was so much disturbed with her morphed images in which she was shown as nude and seminude on Facebook that she killed herself by hanging. Adding to her misery her family did not support her which broke her completely. After the first image was uploaded and she reported police, the police waited until another picture was uploaded and she killed herself because the police believed she has sent her pictures herself to someone who has uploaded them. And Vinupriya in order to prove her innocence to her “not so supporting” family and “not so sensible” police killed herself. I will say “not so sensible” because police is accused of asking bribe for helping them.
After her death the family blamed police for the incident as if they were right by not trusting her in her bad patch. She has written in her suicide note that “What’s the use of living when my father and mother do not trust me?” Well I am not saying that the police are not guilty but I would rather say police is not the only one guilty. There are a lot of people responsible for her death.
- We who give social media enough importance to affect our lives. Otherwise why would a Facebook post bother someone to kill someone/herself/himself.
- The hypocrisy among us which makes it compulsory to blame the girl for whatever happens to her including rape. RIP LOGIC! It is clear Vinupriya was blamed for the incident as it was believed she sent those images herself to someone.
- The distance between us and our parents where gaining trust from them becomes difficult sometimes. Vinupriya might have been among us if her parents trusted her.
- The loopholes in our law and order which gave the man Ramkumar guts to kill Swathi in open.
- The common conviction that you should not react until something ‘huge’ happens. This has always been the reason for suppression of small crimes leading to bigger crimes. Remember a small crime is the warning bell for a bigger one.
I request everyone reading this to take social media not so seriously that it starts causing some serious issues in your life. It is just for the purpose of staying connected to your dear ones. On social media you are responsible for whatever you share. Do think before involving with someone whom you merely know on social media as it is not always what it shows. Use social media logically and sensibly and stay safe.
What in your opinion would have saved the life of Vinupriya? You can leave your opinion in the comment box given below.
Note: Image used in this post is only for representational purpose.
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