Bengali actress Pratyusha Paul turned to the police for help after she received several rape threats and obscene messages on her social media account. Reportedly, the inappropriate messages were sent by one user. Initially, the actress ignored the messages and blocked the user. However, the suspect continued texting her from different new accounts. She was tagged on Instagram last Sunday morning after posting two more obscene pictures with the threat of rape.
The actress is mentally disturbed due to such incidents. She said, “The kind of message I received, it was as if I had been virtually raped. My picture has been superimposed on the porn site. Friends, my hairdresser has sent me the distorted pictures of mine which have been circulated to everyone! Even my mother has got rape threats, too. ”
The accused reportedly threatened to harm Pratyusha, her family members and friends as well. Unable to bear the trauma, Pratyusha decided to seek police help. The police has not arrested anyone in relation to the case. However, an email has been sent to Instagram regarding the complaint, seeking details of the sender.
Pratyusha had received threats even after being approached by the police. She is hopeful that police will find the accused soon. The actress went to Lalbazar (Kolkata Police Headquarter) on Sunday. The whole incident has been reported to the Instagram authorities on behalf of the police. The next step will be taken after receiving a reply from them, police said. Pratyusha is a popular actress in Kolkata. She started acting at the age of 16 only. She played the lead role in the serial ‘Esho Ma Lakshmi’ in Zee Bangla. Her impeccable performance is still etched in the minds of the audience. Pratyusha has acted in serials like ‘Tobu Mone Rekho’, ‘Guriya Jekhane Guddu Sekhane’. Her followers in the social media platforms are huge.
Last year, an obscene meme was made on social media of TV actress Ushasi Roy (popularly known as ‘Kadambini’). The actress had lodged a written complaint with the Kolkata police. The man who did that post was immediately identified by the police and the post was deleted. Ushashi said, “My humble request to the administration is to provide exemplary punishment to those who are doing these kind of things, so they have to think ten times before doing that again.”
Actress Swastika Dutta also made the same demand like Ushashi, as she had also received rape threats publicly at one point. Swastika had booked a car through an app to go for a shoot. She was harassed by the cab driver. The actress is still scared of travelling in a cab. Recently, yet another popular actress from Bengali television filed a police complaint against online trolls. Actress Shruti Das alleged that she has been facing harassment due to her skin tone for almost two years now. Shruti, who is originally from the town of Katwa in Nadia district some 150 km from Kolkata, shifted to the city some two years ago. The actress alleged that she has been subjected to racist comments ever since she made it to the small screen in 2019.
