A family from the Kollam district of Kerala has been facing cyberattacks after taking a nationalistic stand and raising their voice against Lakshadweep actor Aisha Sultana for her anti-nationalist remarks.
In an interview to Republic TV, Nixon and Gigi alleged that they have been receiving threat calls since the time Gigi took to social media to register her protest against Sultana’s “bioweapon” remark.
Nixon informed that his wife wrote a social media post on June 9 criticising Aisha Sultana’s controversial comments after which she faced a brutal cyberattack. On June 10, post 11 pm his wife received more than 12 phone calls as the post made by her went viral.
Additionally, Nixon revealed that all the calls were made from untraceable telephone exchanges, including one from Bangladesh. Their differently-abled son was also attacked on social media.
Gigi in her post criticizing Sultana also announced that she will soon be launching a book on the rise of ISIS and the big secrets of the Islamic state.
The duo has now filed a complaint with the NIA and Kerala’s Cyber cell.
Kerala High Court grants protection from arrest to Aisha Sultana
Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court has granted interim protection from arrest for a week to Lakshadweep filmmaker Aisha Sultana in the sedition case registered against her.
Directing Sultana to cooperate with the ongoing investigation, a single-judge bench of Justice Ashok Menon also asked Sultana to appear before the police in Lakshadweep for interrogation as required under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Aisha Sultana’s remark
A Lakshadweep-based actor and model Aisha Sultana levelled serious allegations against the government of India during a debate on Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV. Sultana alleged that the central government had used COVID-19 as a bioweapon against the people of Lakshadweep Islands.
“Before centre took care, Lakshadweep had 0 cases of COVID-19. Now, it is reporting a daily spike of 100 cases. What the centre has deployed is a bioweapon. I can say this clearly that the central government has deployed bioweapon against the people of Lakshadweep,” Sultana in Malayalam during the debate on Media One.
Her statement attracted sedition charges against her. Sultana, however, defended herself saying, “I was referring to some of the decisions of Patel which infuriated local people. Despite popular sentiment, he continues to antagonise people. As a local resident, I have every right to criticise him,” in a Facebook post.
Lakshadweep administration’s proposals
A huge protest has stirred up in Lakshadweep after administrator Praful K Patel announced a slew of proposals aimed at ensuring the safety and well-being of residents, along with promoting the islands as a tourist destination on par with the Maldives.
The plan was to develop the Lakshadweep Islands like any other state to increase its revenues and boost its tourism. However, soon after the new regulations were introduced, a seemingly innocuous effort to steer the islands towards growth and development was politicised by the detractors, who resorted to fear-mongering and making wildly illogical and unreasonable assertions to oppose the changes proposed by Patel.
Sultana will be appearing before the Lakshadweep police today.
