Tweeters held for harassing singer

October 23, 2012 12:00 am | Updated 04:54 am IST - CHENNAI:

In what can be termed as a stern warning to people who harass women on social media, the Chennai City Police arrested an associate professor at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and have detained another person, working in the Tirupur Collectorate, for harassing singer Chinmayi Sripada on Twitter.

On October 18, Chinamayi lodged a complaint stating that a few individuals were tweeting about her and her mother and making “casteist” and “vulgar” remarks. The comments were posted by twitter handles @rajanleaks, @Senthilchn, @Asharavkay, @losongelesram, @vivajilal and @thyirvadai. “The problem started two years ago after they included me on a hash-tag on a fishermen’s issue and wanted me to support the cause. I did not entertain the request as there were vulgar comments about many top leaders,” Chinmayi told The Hindu on Monday.

After this, they started threatening her, she said. Based on her complaint, a case was registered under section 66-A of the Information Technology Act and Section 4 of Prevention of Women Harassment Act. City police commissioner S. George said: “We found one tweet was posted by @Sharankay. Tracing his IP address, we found that his real name was Sarvana Kumar Perumal, an architecture graduate.” The accused was arrested on Monday. “Rajan, another accused, has been nabbed in Coimbatore and is being brought to Chennai.”

NIFT associate professor held

Police on the lookout for three more

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