From accusing her of practising black magic to camping outside her house, Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty has been hounded by media after the death of her partner and actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
On Sunday, when Rhea reached the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) office in Mumbai's Ballard Estate area, the media mob pounced on her. Some even shoved their microphones into her arms, a video of which has gone viral on social media. Twitterati called it the 'scariest video on the internet today'.
Now, religion and caste have made its entry into Sushant Singh Rajput death case courtesy former JNUSU (Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union) Vice President Shehla Rashid.
Rashid on Sunday evening took to Twitter and said that Rhea is from a privileged background as she is an upper caste, Hindu woman and from an Army family. "If she can be hounded, defamed, harassed and vilified in this manner, the rest of us who don't come from such privileged backgrounds have reason to be afraid, very very afraid," she added.
Meanwhile, Twitter users had mixed reactions to Rashid's tweet. "Yes! However, Brahmanism is not kind to upper-caste women who transgress the norms of sexual morality encoded in caste endogamy. It shouldn't come as a surprise that she's being targeted by the family of her deceased partner's family who've now unleashed a lynch mob on her," a Twitter user said. However, another Twitter user wrote, "Stop! Stop bringing the castes & privileges in everything. The issue is beyond caste, religion etc. (sic)."
Here are a few Twitter reactions:
