Dil Bechara actor Swastika Mukherjee speaks up against cyber bullying: ‘Speak up and expose them’

Dil Bechara actor Swastika Mukherjee raised her voice gainst cyber bullying and thanked the Kolkata Police’s cyber crime department for their prompt action. The actor said she was threatened online after a fake media report claimed she had said ‘suicides are now in fashion’.

She wrote in an elaborate note, “On June 26, days after my co-actor in the upcoming movie Dil Bechara Sushant Singh Rajput’s tragic death, there was a media report which falsely quoted me as saying that suicides are now in fashion. Following this, there were fierce online attacks on me including rape and death threats.”

She went on to say that the person responsible for the fake report has been arrested. “ I would like to inform you that the person behind the fake news posted on www.smritinews.in, Shuvam Chakraborty from Galsi, Bardhaman, Bengal, has been arrested by the Kolkata Cyber Crime department. He has accepted that he carried the false quote on the news portal and circulated it on social media,” she wrote.

She further informed fans about another arrest in the regard. “Along with this, Koushik Das from Hooghly, who had sent me acid attack and rape threats based on this fake news, has also been arrested. Both of them have surrendered in court. Many of us, irrespective of our gender, face vicious cyber attacks which can sometimes snowball into real threats. At the least, this causes a great deal of mental agony and harm to the individuals and their families. I would like to urge people to muster courage and report such situations to law enforcement.”

She also thanked the cyber police department of Kolkata and wrote, “Cyber-bullying is not acceptable. If it is happening with you, please speak up and expose the cyber-bullies. The police and other law enforcement agencies will help you to the best of their abilities. I take this moment to thank the Kolkata Cyber Crime department, and personally express my gratitude for Mr Nurul Absar, officer-in-charge, Cyber PS Lal Bazaar, Ms Shukla Sinha, inspector of Police Cyber Crime, and Mr Raja Saha, Sub-Inspector, Cyber Crime department. - Swastika Mukherjee.”

Sharing the note with a screenshot of one of the threats, the Paatal Lok actor tweeted, “Cyber bullying is not acceptable. Rape threats, acid attack threats are heinous crime & it needs to be addressed. It’s time people think before attacking someone because there will be repercussions. Thank you @KolkataPolice cyber crime department for taking such prompt action.”

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She had earlier shut the trolls who had judged her silence on Sushant’s death. Lashing at the trolls, she had posted a note about how “every person has a different coping mechanism”.

Swastika plays Sanjana Sanghi’s mother in Dil Bechara - Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film set for direct-to-digital release on July 24. She had earlier shared the screen with Sushant in the 2015 film, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy.

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