On July 2, Hindustan Times said it was suspending one of its journalists Srishti Jaswal after the controversy erupted over her tweets on Hindu god Lord Krishna. Several Twitterati had called her tweets ‘derogatory and Hinduphobic’.
After the controversy, Jaswal even apologised for her tweet on July 3. However, Jaswal had to lose her job. She also had to face "online abuse and trolling" almost for a month.
In an article written for Stories Asia, she shared her story of losing her job over a tweet. Describing her ordeal, Jaswal wrote that for last one month, she has been on the receiving end of "endless murder and rape threats".
Following the incidence, Jaswal was dismissed by her employer - Hindustan Times and the trolling even followed her family in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.
Jaswal wrote that she got some abusive videos as well. While describing one video, she wrote, "In that video, flashing my photograph, a naked man was rejoicing in the most disgusting way that I had lost my job. I first saw that video an hour after midnight, in thick of darkness and it scared me to death."
Later in her article, Jaiswal shared stories of more women who lost their jobs and had to face online abuse because of their "controversial social media posts."
On June 29, Srishti Jaswal, in a reply to a tweet, had written: “Because this is what Krishna did. He was a womanizer, a f***boi, and commitment-phobic maniac. And I am a Hindu and I’ve read mythology.”
Followed by her tweet, a complaint was registered against her by a man calling himself Gautam Aggarwal, ex-IT Head of BJP IP Extension Mandal, Zila Shahdara, Delhi, who wrote: “Working with such Media platform and having such views being posted publicly can lead communal disharmony and religious animosity (sic).”
After the "online outrage", her employer - Hindustan Times tweeted, “Hindustan Times does not endorse Srishti Jaswal’s comments which were made on her personal Twitter handle and in her personal capacity. She has been suspended from duties with immediate effect and a code of conduct committee has been set up to look into the matter (sic).”
