Bathinda: Award-winning wrestler Anshu Malik recalls being “shocked and devastated” Sunday when she found a “fake sex video”, “falsely claiming” to feature her, doing the rounds of social media.
The 30-second video, seen by ThePrint, went viral on WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages Sunday, resulting in Malik facing “abusive and derogatory comments” from netizens. Some even questioned her integrity and achievements as a sportsperson, she claimed.
ThePrint could not access the comments as the video has now been removed by police from the public domain.
Malik has won several medals for India, including silver medals at the Asian Wrestling Championships, the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and 2021 World Wrestling Championships. She is the first Indian woman to have reached the finals of the World Wrestling Championships.
The controversy over the video comes as Malik recovers from an injury suffered during a tournament in April. She is currently undergoing treatment in Chennai.
Talking to ThePrint over the phone, the wrestler said, “Imagine the mental trauma I have been going through, there’s nothing worse that can happen to a woman. I am shaken.”
Reiterating that the video had nothing to do with her, Malik said the incident left her “feeling suicidal”.
On Sunday, Malik’s father filed a police complaint, following which an FIR was registered at Sadar police station in Jind district against unknown persons and Amit Kumar. ThePrint has a copy of the FIR.
Within 48 hours, police arrested a person identified by them as Amit Kumar — a college student from Rajasthan’s Barwara, who had allegedly uploaded the video online. They also apprehended the couple who purportedly featured in the video for questioning. The couple were, however, not arrested.
In a statement released to the media Monday night, Jind deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Ravi Khundia said Kumar has been charged under Section 66 A of the Information Technology Act, for sending offensive messages.
Khundia added that the police were still investigating the motive behind Kumar’s alleged action in uploading the video and “defaming Malik”. “We will interrogate him further to find out the truth,” he told the media.
The man who purportedly featured in the video has given a statement on camera, claiming that it is him and his “girlfriend” in the video, and that it has nothing to do with Anshu Malik. ThePrint has a copy of the video.
Malik’s family, meanwhile, is contemplating legal action against local media outlets that allegedly shared the video with her image.
Malik was one of the wrestlers who had accused the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) former president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of alleged sexual harassment and intimidation last year. She was also among wrestlers who had staged a protest at Jantar Mantar against Singh’s alleged misconduct, demanding his removal from the post of WFI chief and arrest.
‘Calling me shameless’
Recalling the flak she received for the video, Malik said, “The kind of things people are saying is despicable. Not only me, they’re also abusing my medals, my awards and my achievements. Calling me shameless for receiving an award from the President,” she told ThePrint.
Malik added: “I was thinking, I can’t even die. That would break my mother. Now, I’ll have to live this life with this shame.”
Talking about the video being circulated on social media, Malik’s uncle Sandeep Dahiya, told ThePrint that they’re going to pursue defamation charges against some Haryana-based media outlets that allegedly shared it on their Facebook pages and YouTube channels with the wrestler’s image.
“The video is of a different girl and boy and it is around two years old. The couple shown in the video are now married. The girl is from Himachal Pradesh and the boy is from Haryana,” Dahiya claimed.
If you are feeling suicidal or depressed, please call a helpline number in your state.
http://www.aasra.info/helpline.html
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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