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| A few accounts associated with radical Hindutva started posting comments on Swati spouting abuses on the imaginary Muslim killer. |
July 2, 2016, NewsCrunch
When Gandhiji was assassinated, the news broadcasts emphasised that he had been shot by a Hindu to prevent the tragedy from taking a communal colour.
Now that an engineer Ram Kumar from Tirunelveli has been arrested for Swati’s murder, it needs to be emphasised that he is a Hindu, if only to show the spiteful rumour-mongers their place.
Over the last few days, many have been blogging and tweeting irresponsibly, without an iota of evidence that Swati’s murder was a love jihad conspiracy. The theory was that she was hacked by a Muslim after she spurned his advances.
So, how did these fanatics hijack the terrible murder?
Swati was hacked on June 24. The next day a few extreme Hindutva websites carried reports suggesting that it had been committed by an
An article by an extreme Hindutva website, which has been deleted now, tried to marshal evidence to make its case:
One, in
Two, the murderer was seen in CCTV footage wearing a backpack. Remember, how Kasab went on a rampage wearing a similar backpack.
The article produces further evidence. It quotes a ‘frightened resident near Nungambakkam railway station’ speculating that ‘the killer must have been influenced by IS video of slitting the throats of the non-Muslims.’
The resident, also adds that the identity of the murderer is yet to be ascertained.
This article was published by several other extreme Hindutva websites and that was cue for their wards on Twitter to take over.
A few accounts associated with radical Hindutva started posting comments on Swati spouting abuses on the imaginary Muslim killer.
The alleged Muslim killer even acquired a name, Bilal Malick, and that fuelled the hate tweets even more. Many of these tweets were tagged to #LoveJihad and some to #JusticeforSwati.
A campaign also started calling upon Hindu parents to trend for Swati. Bollywood singer Abhijeet was among those stalwarts who came out to mobilise Hindu parents to seek justice for Swati.
A few accounts associated with radical Hindutva started posting comments on Swati spouting abuses on the imaginary Muslim killer.
The alleged Muslim killer even acquired a name, Bilal Malick, and that fuelled the hate tweets even more. Many of these tweets were tagged to #LoveJihad and some to #JusticeforSwati.
A campaign also started calling upon Hindu parents to trend for Swati. Bollywood singer Abhijeet was among those stalwarts who came out to mobilise Hindu parents to seek justice for Swati.