Happy to see her smile: Kerala CM meets Hanan Hamid, assures his support

Hanan Hamid, a BSc student, was abused and trolled after a report described how she sold fish at a local market to earn money for her education.
Happy to see her smile: Kerala CM meets Hanan Hamid, assures his support
Happy to see her smile: Kerala CM meets Hanan Hamid, assures his support
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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan voiced his support for 19-year-old Hanan Hamid, who was targeted on social media after a news report showed how she sells fish to earn money for her education. Two people have been arrested till date for making derogatory remarks against her.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the chief minister spoke about the interaction he had with Hanan after she visited him to thank him for his support.

“It gave me immense happiness to see the smile on her face,” said Vijayan, in his post.

“When Hanan was subjected to cyber attacks, the Kerala government had ensured her all the protection and had also arrested the perpetrators behind the attacks. She had visited to show her gratitude for the support,” the CM added.

Vijayan also went on to say that he has promised Hanan that the government will continue to protect her and that proper instructions have been given to the concerned officials regarding this.

“I have told her that she should continue to move forward courageously,” said Vijayan.

The Kerala Chief Minister had earlier too come out in her support when she was being subjected to derogatory posts online.

Praising Hanan for her hard work, Pinarayi had said earlier, “It's a matter of great pride when one is self-dependent as a student. The satisfaction one gets is immense if they fund their studies with the money they earn. Only those who have gone through such experiences in life will understand it.”

On July 25, Mathrubhumi had published an article highlighting the struggles of Hanan, a BSc Chemistry student, who sold fish in the local market to make ends meet. The story carried a picture of Hanan selling fish wearing her college uniform and a plastic cap.

Soon Hanan’s story started going viral and many came out in support of the young girl, including film director Arun Gopi, who offered her a role alongside Pranav Mohanlal in his upcoming film.

Few hours after Arun Gopi made this offer, a certain section of the social media started lashing out at Hanan, claiming that she is doing all of this for publicity and that she isn’t poor as she claims to be.

One man even did a Facebook Live, alleging that Hanan “could not have been poor as she was wearing a gold ring on her fingers.”

Soon, thousands joined him in abusing her and she was forced to clarify that she had bought the ring, something she had always wanted, after working for months together.

Following the abuse, the Kerala police had arrested two persons for the derogatory comments they made on social media against Hanan.

Noorudeen Sheikh, the man who did a Facebook live claiming Hanan was a fraud, was the first one to be arrested on Saturday. The police then arrested 20-year-old Siyad on Monday for making derogatory statements about Hanan on Facebook.

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