Neha Bhasin Files A Police Complaint After BTS Army Troll, Abuse And Threaten Her With Rape. Fandom Is Great But This Is Worrying

I am a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Even if what they believe in isn’t popular. For instance, I like winter more than summer. Or I would rather sit by myself and read on the weekends than go to crowded clubs. Those are my opinions and choices and I am entitled to own them. However, being a woman with opinions has never proved to be a good thing. And we are increasingly starting to see a herd mentality when it comes to silencing women, especially if they have an opinion. And often, these are not efforts to quiet her down, these are threats of sexual violence. 

Don’t believe me still? Just ask singer-songwriter, Neha Bhasin. She has been cyber-bullied, threatened with extreme sexual violence, abuse and excessively trolled over the last two months all because she voiced a simple opinion of not being a fan of K-Pop music. 

Now, finally, after two months of going through this hell at the hands of the BTS ARMY (fans of the famed K-Pop band, BTS), Neha has filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police’s Cyber Crime branch.  

She told HT, “I waited for a week, this time. I tried warning them. But it just kept getting worse and worse every day and I decided that I couldn’t take it any longer, and filed a complaint with the cybercrime department of Mumbai police yesterday.” Further adding, “I posted a photo of my father, who passed away two years back, and in the comment section on that post, people are threatening me. I am scared.” 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEW3KamJbxH/

Before I go on, let me jog your memory a little. Last year, Neha had gotten into trouble with trolls online after she defended rapper Badshah. She faced a lot of rape threats and abuse. She said, “I don’t even know Badshah personally. But he was being trolled and called average musician because he said something about buying google ad words, and what he said was completely alright. I had just given my opinion that every artist needs to be respected and added that I am not a big fan of Kpop music. Since then, for nearly two months I was abused and criminally threatened.” 

But of course, the abuse did not subside. This year, after Badshah was questioned by the Mumbai police about buying fake likes, the BTS ARMY has “abused, gave rape threats and bullied” Neha and asked her to apologize for the remarks she made last year.  

Just let me understand this. Neha said something as simple as she is not a big fan of K-Pop music and the BTS ARMY went berserk. So what, they are going to go around threatening and abusing every person who says they don’t like K Pop? Also, why is that anyone who has the slightest problem with a woman ends up threatening her with sexual violence? This is insane. 

Speaking about insane, Neha said, “They even called my manager at 1 am, and told them to ‘keep me in check’. There’s a video doing rounds on YouTube, where a young boy is openly threatening to rape me if I don’t apologise.” 

I don’t see any reason she should apologize. She didn’t say anything that would harm or offend someone. She stated her opinion on K-POP music and the last time I checked, it’s not a crime to not enjoy it. What is she going through for merely stating a harmless fact about herself is seriously nasty. What happened to freedom of speech and expression? 

Also Read: Meera Chopra Fights Back After She Is Brutally Trolled By Fans Of Jr NTR. It’s Outrageous That They’ve Threatened Her With Rape And Murder.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CD6diFapP1c/

Neha told HT that through this complaint she hopes to achieve two things. First, “I want people to know, that bullying, abusing a celebrity, or anyone, for an opinion that you don’t agree with, is a criminal offence. Freedom of speech is not freedom to peddle hate, abuse anyone or threaten them.” And secondly, “I realised that most of them are young kids. It’s frightening to even think about the things they say and are capable of saying. Its really down to their parents, who need to keep them in check. Just because they are kids does not mean they can go on abusing anyone, hiding behind a keyboard.” 

I think we have raised this topic about young kids threatening rape multiple times. It’s been happening a lot and it’s extremely worrisome that when something doesn’t sit right with them, the first thing their minds go to is rape. 

A lot of her Instagram comments are people telling her to just apologize and get away from all this drama. But again, I ask you why should she apologize for voicing her opinion? They are threatening her and her family and friends with rape and abusing them. She should not be the one to apologize. 

Neha also talked about how social media platforms say that they have rules against cyber-bullying and insensitive comments, but in reality, they do nothing about it. Which completely is true. Remember TikTok? 

She said, “YouTube is where my work is showcased, and people are coming and leaving comments there which are not even related to my work. Why do I have to go to cybercrime and make an official complaint and wait for them to do something about it? Why can’t these social media platforms take action themselves? They say they are against cyberbullying, but they don’t really do anything about it. It’s time that they are held accountable too, for grabbing more eyeballs and more users to get more engagement on their platforms.” 

This whole battle has gotten ugly and is completely outrageous! 

https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/comedian-agrima-joshua-got-explicit-rape-threats-for-making-a-joke-why-do-indian-men-always-resort-to-threats-of-sexual-violence/