Five men arrested in Kerala viral video case where women were harassed for a joke

After the college-going women in the video made comments about the regressive attitude of a village, members of that village bombarded them with abuse.
Five men arrested in Kerala viral video case where women were harassed for a joke
Five men arrested in Kerala viral video case where women were harassed for a joke

Five men have been arrested in the case of the trolling, intimidation and harassment of seven Mallappuram college-going women after a video of them speaking about a village named Kilinakkode went viral. The five men, Shasuddin, Abdul Gaffur, Sabiq, Lukman and Haidar Ali, were arrested by Vengara police on Friday morning.

A case was registered against them under section 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 149 (unlawful assembly for common goal) and section 120 of the Kerala Police Act (nuisance and violation of public order). All five men are now out on bail.

The college-going women in the viral Whatsapp video (which was only intended to be shared as a joke amongst friends) were returning from a wedding of a friend, and made some comments about the regressive attitude of the village given the treatment they faced at the wedding, where some men had taken objection to them taking selfies with the bride. The girls joked in a light-hearted manner about the regressive attitude of the village, giggling that the people there held ‘12th century values’ and that no girls should have the misfortune of being married to a man from that village.

Almost immediately, the seven women faced online trolling, threats and abuse from the village’s men, prompting four of the women to arrive at Vengara police station to register a complaint about the abusive messages and audio clips that they had received. While the girls and their parents were at the Vengara police station, nearly 200 angry members of Kilinakkode village gathered at the station.

Some social media commentators from the village even wrote on social media, ‘those who insulted a whole village are now in police station,’ and invited more people to join in the crowd. The five men who're arrested by Vengara police on Friday morning were members of this mob. 

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