Bengaluru journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her home on Tuesday (File photo)
Highlights
- Hate tweets on Gauri Lankesh who was shot dead in Bengaluru
- She published Kannada weekly, was fierce advocate of secularism
- Tweets abuse her, some deride her as Naxal sympathizer, "anti-Hindu"
As journalists and activists condemned the shooting of noted Bengaluru reporter
Gauri Lankesh, describing it as vendetta for her fearless stand against divisive politics, some on Twitter, who claimed ties to BJP leaders, boiled over with hatred.
Ashish Mishra, whose profile declares "I am Hindu and Team Modi", and whose profile photo shows him with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, said Ms Lankesh, 55, deserved her ending. He is followed by union ministers including Ravi Shankar Prasad, who tweeted tonight that posts celebrating the murder are deplorable. "I strongly condemn them," he said.
On
LinkedIn, Mr Mishra claims that since last year, he has served as the social media advisor to the IT Minister.
Screenshot from Ashish Mishra's profile on LinkedIn
, who is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, abused Ms Lankesh in his post which was later deleted.
Screenshot from Nikhil Dadhich's profile on Twitter that shows PM Modi among his followers
Nikhil Dadhich's abusive tweet that was later deleted
Others including a senior journalist derided Ms Lankesh as a Naxal sympathizer and were called out by
AltNews.
Few comments were more revulsive than this one by Jagrati Shukla, who says on Twitter that she has worked for Network 18 and Zee Media.
But she also shared rape threats received in response to her post as evidence that unacceptable abuse pours on the extremities of all groups irrespective of their political alignment.
Twitter said through a spokesperson that "We want people to feel safe expressing diverse opinions and beliefs but we draw the line when it comes to behavior that crosses the line into abuse, including behaviour designed to consciously harass, intimidate, or silence another person's voice."
It said users can report abusive behaviour
here.