Religious bigotry is one of the greatest threats to society. But it’s nothing new in India; radicalism by fanatics has been pretty regular in the society. That’s pretty evident from the fact that every time we open the newspaper, we find at least one or more news on the same.
In particular, hatred and stereotyping against the Purdah of Muslim women is the worst of them. The new victim of this kind of vague outrage is India international Mohammed Shami, who posted an image with his wife Hasin Jahan on Facebook.
Within seconds of posting the image, Facebook users posted derogatory comments and criticised him for uploading an image with his wife without hijab and for not ‘covering’ her properly. People posted comments like, “sharam karo sar aap ek muslim ho bibi ko parde me rakho” (Be ashamed Sir, you’re a Muslim and you should keep your wife behind curtains).
In this technology driven world, it is true that we need social media to keep us updated and stay connected. But while surfing the web we encounter all kinds of verbal abuse in some form or the other. Objectification of women on the internet is a particularly pressing problem. In the virtual world, sexual harassment of women is a disturbing grey area, and in the absence of stringent laws, it becomes more pronounced.
One of India’s finest shuttlers, Jwala Gutta, said in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, “The people passing such statements have an advantage, you know; they are hiding behind a mask, to make these comments. I'm quite sure in real life, they will never have the guts to come forward and tell me such things. In fact, they will refer to me as 'Jwala Maam' and even ask for a selfie or something. Over time, I have realised that it's become a sort of entertainment for people, where they make such comments to attract more attention or get more likes, without realising how sensitive it might be.”
Mohammed Shami is not the first victim of such hate-mongering. And he won’t be the last either. Indian sportswomen like Dipika Pallikal, Tania Sachdev, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, to name a few, even have dedicated pages for the sole purpose of their objectification and shaming.
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