"When he verbally abused me online, he had Allu Arjun's face. Behind a fake ID, he abused me and the people who supported me. He did all that, sitting not far away from where I live. Today, he has a face."
This is what 26-year-old Aparna Prasanthi, a Malappuram-based film critic wrote on Facebook on Sunday, after the Kerala police arrested a youth for sending her abusive messages online.
The Perinthalmanna police arrested 22-year-old Niyassudhien for verbally abusing Aparna, who had, in May, posted on her personal Facebook profile that she got a headache after watching actor Allu Arjun’s latest film, but couldn’t leave the theatre soon as it was raining heavily. Niyassudhein, among several other users, sent her rape and death threats for her personal views.
The police have booked him under sections 364 (Kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) 354 (outrage modesty of woman), 294 (obscene acts and songs), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the IT Act.
He has been remanded to judicial custody. The police said that they expect to make more arrests in the case.
In her Facebook post on May 9, Aparna posted a one-liner after watching the Malayalam-dubbed version of Allu Arjun’s film Naa Peru Surya, Naa Illu India. Meant to be a funny post, it soon escalated after users, who called themselves fans of the actor, descended on her timeline and abused her.
However, Aparna refused to take the abuse lying down, and posted screenshots of the abusive messages she received. From death threats to rape threats and obscenity thrown at her, the 'fans' also demanded that Aparna issue an apology. Following this, Aparna proceeded to file a complaint with the Hi-tech cell.
She had then told TNM: “I got a lot of messages from them saying they will meet me at my funeral, that they will rape me and teach me a lesson. They abused my parents, called me and my mother names, and attacked our character.”