Controversial journalist Barkha Dutt has been complaining of harassment recently and has sought help from Delhi Police on Twitter to resolve the matter. In her tweet, she claimed that a sender had confirmed to her that her number was being circulated in groups.
https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1097362434988408832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
However, in a tweet Dutt had posted herself on social media the previous day, she had advertised that her number was online and available to Kashmiris who needed help or ‘felt vulnerable’. Therefore, it appears that she was fully aware that her number was public.
https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1096955168623640576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The contradictory messages on the two tweets were noticed by people on social media as well.
https://twitter.com/WrongDoc/status/1097495823795908609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
She was also called out for first claiming that Kashmiri students are facing violence and after no cases of attck or violence was found, claiming victimhood over lewd messages.
https://twitter.com/padhalikha/status/1097462846873571328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Barkha has claimed that she has been receiving lewd messages and harassment after her number, which was online as per her own account, began circulating on social media. Although the harassment she suffered was condemned by everyone, she was criticized heavily for politicising the issue by claiming that the obscene image of a circumcised male genital she received was sent “in the name of nationalism”.