B. Rachana Reddy, the woman advocate who has taken on the Telangana government in relation to land acquisition cases, has become the subject of trolling, and the target of misogyny on social media.
Derogatory remarks
Facebook is the platform where this postgraduate in law from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is splashed with large doses of vitriol and hatred. A post by one Sridevi Mantri used harsh words and passed derogatory remarks on her looks, besides comparing her attire with that of actors Silk Smita and Mumaith Khan. It also issued warnings about dire sequences if she goes on to question ‘Baapu’— a reference to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Another post by a community ‘Right Politics’ run by one Aelikatte Shankar Rao went a step ahead likening her with demons, and alleged that she belonged to Congress party and TJAC chairperson M. Kodandram’s groups. Both the posts made unkind and suggestive remarks, posting a cropped profile picture of Ms. Reddy, apparently taken at a pub.
It may be recalled that Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao named Ms. Reddy and criticised her during the debate on land acquisition in the State Legislative Assembly, bringing her into media glare. When contacted, Ms. Reddy said she was not aware of the trolling as she had stayed away from Facebook for some time.
‘Attention is unprovoked’
“I really don’t care. Had I looked at them very closely, perhaps it would have affected my morale. But I’m working on a serious issue now, and do not have time for this. I can only say that this attention is unprovoked and I do not owe any explanation,” she said, attributing the malice to misogyny and frustration about a woman questioning the establishment, that too unexpectedly from legal arena.
Surprisingly, notwithstanding all the innuendoes to her “drinking habit” in the said posts, Ms. Reddy is a teetotaller. “I went to the USA for my masters, stayed a brief while in the UK, and went to Germany too, but I never consumed liquor,” she said.
The profile picture was taken six years ago with a cousin who is no more.
“In her memory, I did not remove the picture in which she was seen holding a glass,” she explained, while asserting that even if she did consume liquor, it was not anybody else’s business.
Ms. Reddy had been a human rights lawyer in the USA for four years, before beginning her career in India as a teacher at Nalsar University. Since 2010, she has been full-time practitioner of law.
