Telangana man arrested for harassing Amrutha on social media after Pranay's murder

G Eeshwar was accused of making crass comments about Amrutha, whose husband Pranay was murdered in September.
Telangana man arrested for harassing Amrutha on social media after Pranay's murder
Telangana man arrested for harassing Amrutha on social media after Pranay's murder

A 25-year-old man from Hyderabad’s Kompally was arrested by Miryalaguda police on Sunday for allegedly making abusive comments about Amrutha Varshini, whose husband Pranay Perumalla was murdered in September in a brutal caste killing that sparked widespread outrage across Telangana.

A complaint was filed by Amrutha against the accused, G Eeshwar, resident of Dhulapally, Kompally at the Miryalaguda I town police station on Saturday for making crass remarks against her. Subsequently, with the help of IT core team, police arrested him at his residence. The accused was arrested under IPC section 354 (D) (stalking) and section 67 of IT Amendment Act (publishing obscene information in electronic form).

Amrutha, who belongs to an upper-caste community, had rebelled against her father, Maruthi Rao, and married Pranay, a Dalit from Miryalaguda in Nalgonda district. Angered by the inter-caste marriage and his daughter’s defiance, Maruthi Rao allegedly hired killers to murder Pranay. The hired killer hacked Pranay to death with a machete on September 14.

Following the arrest of Maruthi Rao, accused of murdering Pranay, several upper-castes have lent open support to Maruthi Rao and abused Amrutha, for demanding the death sentence for her father.

Since then she has faced a torrent of abuses and threats, including slut-shaming on social media, especially after a remark she made while speaking to a TV channel. Amrutha had said parents don't intend to give birth or raise children, they just want to have sex. Upper-caste communities took this comment as an excuse to harass her on social media, while justifying the murder of Pranay and hailing Maruthi Rao. The video clip went viral, while Amrutha was lambasted for not knowing about “Indian culture” or “parenthood.”

Though Amrutha has apologised on video for her comment, her detractors weren’t appeased. Appealing to cyber bullies to stop harassing her, Amrutha apologised once more for her remarks on the ‘Justice for Pranay’ Facebook page  — a page maintained by her demanding justice for her dead husband — on Monday.
She said that though she has apologised for hurting their sentiments, people are still promoting the viral video and threatening to physically assault her. At the time, she said she was grief stricken and made the statement in error. But Amrutha complained that the cyber bullies continued to find reasons to justify her husband’s murder, instead of fighting for justice.

Speaking to TNM, Balaswamy, Pranay’s father said, “We have been patient for a while now, but we won’t anymore. This cyber harassment has traumatised Amrutha.”
“We’re glad that police have arrested the abuser. We have filed complaint against one more person who has been hounding us on social media. He is presently absconding. But police will soon nab him. Let
this be a warning to all these goons on social media, who think that they can tell whatever on social media and escape without consequences,” he added.

The Miryalaguda police in its press release warned, “if anyone abuses and makes obscene comments on social media, they too would face the same action.”

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