Udupi: Despite Police’s Denial, Hindutva Outfits Give Communal Spin to Row Over College Video

According to right-wing social media handles, the video is a form of a ‘jihad’, with a ‘statewide network to target Hindu women’. Both the police and the college administration categorically denied a communal angle.

New Delhi: A recent incident in Karnataka’s communally sensitive Udupi has become yet another reminder of how the Hindutva right wing has mastered the use of social media to spread misinformation, communal hate, and sustain its rumour-mongering ecosystem.

On July 19, a case of alleged distasteful bullying in the Netra Jyothi College, a paramedical educational institution in Udupi, came to light. The college authorities received a complaint from a student that she was filmed secretly in a washroom by three fellow students, following which all three students were suspended. The complainant herself claimed that the three students were trying to pull a prank on one of their classmates but ended up videographing her.

The college management said that the suspended students apologised to the complainant and deleted the video immediately and that the complainant didn’t want to pursue a police case. The college put the matter to rest by suspending the three students, while also informing the local police of the matter. 

However, within a day, the matter snowballed into a major controversy after several right-wing handles on social media communalised the matter, alleging that the three suspended students, who also happened to be Muslims, were apparently part of a “statewide network to target Hindu women”. The Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) social media handles also alleged that the incident was a form of “jihad” while giving a communal spin to the whole incident. 

Meanwhile, several other social media handles also circulated an old video from Tamil Nadu, claiming that the recorded college video was being widely circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. This was done despite the fact that the complainant had refused to file a police case.

Once the matter became controversial, the Karnataka Police, after its initial investigation, categorically claimed that the matter was not a communal incident and that it would probe the alleged fake propaganda around the incident. 

The right-wing activists went on overdrive when the police tried to question one Rashmi Samant, whose tweet alleged that the college incident was part of an “Islamist conspiracy” and that videos of the incident were being circulated had gone viral. Although the police couldn’t probe her, because she wasn’t at her home at the time of the police visit, several right-wing activists were affronted by the fact that Samant was questioned.

Udupi’s BJP MLA Yashpal Suvarna landed at Samant’s residence in solidarity. BJP leaders, including Karnataka state unit president Naleen Kumar Kateel and BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya, came to Samant’s defence, while also accusing the Congress government in the state of acting in a partisan manner and leading a social media campaign containing misinformation, exaggerations, and communal remarks against the suspended students and the Muslim community in general. 

Speaking with The South First, additional superintendent of police, S.T. Siddalingappa, asserted that there wasn’t any communal motive behind the incident. “We probed the incident of the girls filming a fellow girl student in the restroom, and we found nothing beyond it. The video has been deleted and there are no other videos doing the rounds,” he clarified.

Earlier, Udupi SP, Hakay Akshay Machhindra, had also said that the incident was an isolated case with no communal motives. “Our probe has not revealed anything communal. Our sources confirmed that there were no other videos and the ones that were circulating are either old or from other states,” he told reporters. 

Even the college authorities did not attribute any communal colour to the matter. The news agency PTI reported that college director Rashmi Krishna Prasad suspended the students for recording the video and bringing a mobile phone that is not permitted on the campus. Prasad also confirmed that the three students were trying to prank someone else but ended up filming the complainant in the washroom inadvertently. He added that the video was immediately deleted by the students who apologised to the complainant. 

The college’s academic coordinator Balakrishna told South First, “The girl student who was videographed has given in writing that she does not want to register a complaint. However, we have brought the incident to the notice of the police and even handed over the seized mobile phone to the cops so that they could examine if any other videos were taken or forwarded to others.” 

Yet, the right-wing activists demanded that a criminal case be filed against the students and that mere suspension wasn’t enough. A war of words between Congress and BJP leaders also followed. 

 

Fact-checking websites also showed how a significant section of the mainstream media quoted the right-wing handles spreading misinformation and amplifying the rumor-mongering steered by right-wing groups.

The complainant has remained steadfast in not pursuing the case as she believes it may reveal her identity. The college, too, has claimed that it would respect the complainant’s sentiments. But several right-wing organisations have been protesting and demanding a probe to “expose the real intentions” behind the filming.

As the matter became a political controversy, the Karnataka Police has now filed two suo motu first information reports (FIRs). One, against the three students for an alleged attempt to outrage the modesty of a woman and violating her privacy and the college management for failing to furnish enough details.

And another, against OneIndia Kannada Youtube channel and one Kalu Singh Chouhan for allegedly uploading a morphed old video from Tamil Nadu to claim that the incident happened in Udupi. Meanwhile, the National Commission of Women member Khusbu Sundar also landed in Udupi to conduct an inquiry into the incident.