How a morphed FB photo led to the death of a 21-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu
Who killed Vinupriya, a 21-year-old student from Salem in Tamil Nadu who had finished her BSc in chemistry?
Was it the person who posted morphed nude and semi-nude photographs of Vinupriya on Facebook?
Was it the laxity of the police that failed to take the case seriously?
Was it the anxiety of her parents, who were obviously extremely disturbed over the embarrassing photographs and transferred the burden of their fears to the girl?
Vinupriya hanged herself after she saw her morphed semi-nude picture posted on a Facebook page on June 26. This was the second such photograph that had been posted on the social networking site within a week.
On June 23, when the first photograph appeared, she informed her parents who lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Cell. The police, either lacking the investigative skills to trace the origin of the morphed photograph or simply displaying lack of interest, told Vinupriya's father that it will nab the culprit in two weeks.
Two weeks? Seriously? Do those cops in Tamil Nadu's Cyber Crime Cell understand the trauma Vinupriya and her family would have gone through?
That is not all. One of the officers in the Cyber Crime Cell allegedly asked for a mobile phone if the father wanted the investigation to be done. Vinupriya's father says he bought a cellphone worth Rs 2,000 for the cop and bemoans that despite taking a bribe, the officer did not deliver justice.
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On June 26, another obscene photograph was posted on Facebook, leaving Vinupriya traumatised. The investigating officer had already assumed that she must have sent those pictures to someone and now they were being posted, perhaps by a jilted lover. The line of questioning to Vinupriya was on those lines.
When she was alone at home on June 27, she killed herself.
The second photograph that had appeared on June 26, disappeared within hours of news of Vinupriya's death becoming public. Proof, that the pervert was lurking somewhere close by or was part of Vinupriya's friend circle.
Initially, the family did not want to accept Vinupriya's body after post-mortem till the police caught the culprit.
Then the SP assured the father, who is a power loom weaver in Salem, that the police will crack the case in 48 hours. The SP has also promised to suspend the two officers.
While the primary concern is to arrest and bring to book the person or persons who committed the heinous crime, what is often overlooked is the unwitting damage the act of speaking out and facing blame had on Vinupriya's psyche.
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| Vinupriya's suicide note. |
Vinupriya's suicide note indicates how heartbroken the young girl was, in wrongly or rightly assuming that her own parents had not fully trusted her.
Even the most evolved of parents will admit that when they see something going wrong with their child, there is every chance that you talk in an accusatory, questioning tone, without realising how deeply that can hurt the child and worsen the situation.
And aren't most parents and civil society telling girls that if they are drawing unwarranted attention, something they did, something they wore or did not wear, is some way to blame?
Vinupriya's letter will move you to tears, but therein lies a lesson on how not to deal with our children. After all, parents are also human and make mistakes that could prove costly.
In the note, written in English script but in Tamil language, she wonders, "When you people do not believe me, what is the use of living."
Begging for forgiveness again and again, Vinupriya swears on truth that she is not in any way, responsible for the photos appearing on Facebook. That she did not send them to anyone.
What killed Vinupriya was lack of supportive therapy. While everyone tried to catch the culprit, which no doubt was necessary, no thought was paid to rehabilitation of the "victim".
While it is understandable that conservative middle class families react in panic, the fact remains that it is the real and perceived insinuations at home and the gender-insensitive police behaviour that killed Vinupriya.
Psychiatrists call this the "Learn Shame" syndrome where the victim undergoes a false and exaggerated sense of humiliation and shame for something he or she is not responsible.
Vinupriya needed extensive counselling. Unfortunately, Salem provided none of that.
In today's world where everyone embraces and consumes technology, what happened to Vinupriya could happen to any one of us.
Either youth could be cyber-bullied or stalked or be victims of cheating of this kind. As a society, if we are using technology, we need to learn to be tech-savvy.
Letting the entire world a peep into your life on Facebook is never a good idea. Those privacy settings have been devised for a reason, use them.
Vinupriya's death has shown that life isn't simple in the 21st century of gadgets. The social networking site was meant to make friends. It became Vinupriya's enemy.