‘To prove his innocence, he gave his life’: Bhagyalakshmi on social media trial

Dubbing artist and actress Bhagyalakshmi has reacted to the incident in which a young man died by suicide under the weight of humiliation after a video circulated on social media. In a social media post, she said that when an accusation goes viral, a life silently collapses. Those who are guilty of crime must be punished. The innocent must receive justice. If even one of these is missing, it is not justice but a failure of society, Bhagyalakshmi said.

Bhagyalakshmi responded to the issue through two posts. In the first post, she shared the controversial video. The first post reads:

“Groping and jostling are experienced by most women who travel by bus. Many respond loudly; some even retaliate physically. Others, out of fear, move away from the spot. Here too, if this girl was sure that the man behaved indecently, the courage she showed in taking this video should also have been shown in strongly responding against him. When someone behaves with us in an unacceptable way, or touches our body, it will reflect in our expressions and behaviour. But in this video, what was the real intention of the woman who records the video without any change in expression?”

The second response was after learning of the young man’s death:

“To prove or convince others of one’s innocence, a person ends up having to give his own life. If he had not died, the judges of social media would have split into two camps. He took his life because he could not bear the widespread attack against him immediately after the video surfaced. In that case, both the woman and those who abused him in the comments the moment they saw the video are responsible for his death.

Judging others before even hearing about it in detail is a common sight on social media… There are some social media platforms too which resort to any kind of indecency just to go viral. Without a clear question, without giving him a chance to say his side, a life was silently lost.” These were Bhagyalakshmi’s words.

A young woman shared a video on social media accusing a man of sexual harassment on a bus that Deepak, a native of Kozhikode, was found hanging. He was found hanging in his bedroom early Sunday morning. On Friday, a young woman from Vadakara had shared a video on social media alleging that Deepak had touched her body while on a bus in Payyannur. Deepak had gone to Payyannur for work. The woman shared the video alleging that he deliberately touched her body with sexual intent in a crowded bus. In connection with the incident, the Medical College Police have registered a case of unnatural death.