Link-ups are common in the film industry. Actors are invariably linked up with their co-stars through-out their careers. In fact, ‘affairs’ are considered to be an intrinsic part of an actor’s life span. The audience is forever looking for interesting tid-bits about their favourite stars and who they are linked up with from time to time.
But the recent incident involving YS Sharmila, daughter of YS Rajasekhara Reddy and sister of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has shown how such ‘fleeting’ interest in the lives of celebrities can result in smear campaign that is both malicious and dangerous.
Just as the election season started in the then united Andhra Pradesh, the internet was flooded with stories about an alleged link-up between YS Sharmila and popular actor Prabhas. However, the stories did not stop there. There were then stories ‘of a top politician’s daughter harassing Prabhas’ and the write-ups mentioned that Prabhas in fact ran away to Mumbai in order to avoid Sharmila. A complaint was filed by YSRCP once such stories were brought to its notice and they sought immediate police action.
However, this did not end Sharmila’s ordeal. The culprits then posted morphed images of her with her alleged paramour all over the Internet. Finally, Sharmila decided enough was enough and decided to formally lodge a complaint with Cyber police to fight for her dignity and to make sure that no such smear campaigns are taken up against other women in future.
In a 5-page complaint submitted to CP Mahender Reddy, a visibly disturbed Sharmila had mentioned time and again that she felt the need to fight back to make sure that women who took up public offices, especially women politicians would not be discouraged from taking up issues fearing such vicious campaigns on social media platforms.
Sharmila said that appropriate action would be taken against the offenders under Indian Penal Code Section 509, 499, 500 and 501 and IT Act 66A. She even sought action against search engines Safari of Apple and Google for displaying such malicious and false stories on top whenever her name is being keyed into the search engines.
All along, Sharmila maintained that she had never met Prabhas or had any contact with him and requested Prabhas to come forth and condemn such malicious acts. Her primary concern was to make sure that swift action is taken against her perpetrators to make sure that politics was not a ‘dirty’ place where political vendetta against innocent women goes unpunished, she said.
Though the incident has a political angle to it in the case of Sharmila, it clearly shows the growing disrespect towards women in powerful roles in India. Like Shruti Haasan who has been complaining time and again against intrusive fans whose adoration bordered into obsession, Sharmila’s is yet another example of a public figure fighting to safeguard herself from nasty elements who are out to malign her dignity and vilify her.
