NCW writes to TN DGP seeking action against actor Siddharth over tweet against news anchor
After calling for action against Tamil actor Siddharth over his controversial tweet on ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday cognisance of another tweet by the actor against a prominent television news channel anchor. The Commission has now written to Tamil Nadu DGP seeking “intervention and appropriate action”.
Saying that the tweet was “offensive, unethical’’ and showed disrespect towards women, the NCW said in a statement said that it has taken suo motu cognisance of the matter. It added that appropriate action should be taken “against the offender as per provisions of law to refrain him from making such kind of statements in the future”.
The Commission has further asked the Tamil Nadu Police to inform NCW of the action taken in the matter.
Earlier, the NCW had written to the Maharashtra DGP calling for action against Siddharth. This came after Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani had spoken about the issue during The Indian Express e-Adda programme held on Monday.
“Do women get explicitly objectified only through one app? No. As I came to this conversation, I had a world champion, Ms Nehwal, who was demeaned for her political position, no less by a so-called popular actor, a man who would have known better. We need to look at this issue holistically. Are only the men who are caught the ones we need to be concerned about? Or, those who deny a woman the right to speak?… Ms Nehwal had a point of view. But she was demeaned and objectified. Should such men be brought to justice as well?” Irani said.
Referring to the hate apps that have used doctored images to target Muslim women, Irani said women, irrespective of their religion, have been attacked online and she had raised the issue with the IT and telecom departments. Cases such as tweets made by Siddharth should also be taken into account, she said.
NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma earlier told The Indian Express that she had been in continuous touch with the Delhi Police Cyber Cell, monitoring the progress of investigation into both these apps which were hosted on GitHub.
“These incidents are very unfortunate. It is not a matter of Hindu or Muslim women. Communities of both religions need to come together and protect their women. These apps are not about hurting each other’s communities, but hurting women. The police should also not drag its feet in such cases,’’ Sharma had said.
Sharma further said that the Commission has held several meetings with Twitter, Facebook and Google to address these issues.
