A 26-year-old female resident of Jaipur received a number of death threats after tweeting ahead of Dipa Karmakar’s vault final earlier this week, where the 22-year-old gymnast performed the Produnova, one of the most difficult vaults in gymnastics, and one that can be fatal.
Karmakar finished in a spectacular fourth in the vault finals, only narrowly missing out on a medal. She is one of only five gymnasts in the world
The woman, who remains anonymous, in a tweet that has since been deleted, said "Tonight, she is going to risk her life to win an Olympic medal. Life is not worth any medal, for any damned country.”
In response to the innocuous tweet, the woman received threats to her life, on social media and offline. Several sent the woman rape threats, which led her to seek immediate action from India’s Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, who contacted Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
Jaipur police took action following the Chief Minister’s intervention, and in a statement said that a case ‘has been filed.’
Jaipur Police Commissioner Sanjay Agarwarl said: "On Sunday evening we got to know about it from the chief minister Raje. "Later, Kunwar Rastradeep, deputy commissioner of police (east) was informed of the matter. After getting details we have lodged a case under Section 67 and 66 D of the IT Act, 2000 at the Pratapnagar police station. We need to trace some IP addresses.”
The woman has allegedly seen attackers turn up at her residence threatening to physically attack and rape her. Sadly, in the initial stages of questioning, the police questioned the woman, a journalist, instead of helping her.
An investigation is now underway.
More to follow.
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