By Sanskriti Pandey:
“There are voices out there which need our representation. Let this be an opportunity to perpetuate a culture of improved behaviour which seeps down to the lowest levels of social interaction,” says Prerna Pratham Singh. On 17th May, Prerna was sexually harassed via a Facebook message by a certain Raushan Kumar. She replied to Kumar’s fling at her genitals with sarcasm and proceeded to making a screenshot of the interaction public. Within hours, Kumar flung his hands up calling “hacked profile,” but it was too late – Prerna’s post and the cause she’s furthering had gone viral.
21 year old Delhi University student Prerna has been flooded with laudatory messages since she decided to speak up, including that of Special Commissioner in Delhi Traffic Police, who asked her to file an FIR. But an FIR, more than 3000 shares, and over 21000 likes later, Facebook has taken down her screenshot citing ‘nudity’. While it remains to be seen if FB will respond to Prerna’s appeal, the incident has called for women emboldening themselves to not tolerate the everyday harassment – the oh-so-familiar “wanna frandship” kinds – and to help curb it with public condemnation. In this short video which was originally published on The Quint, a bold and confident Prerna appeals to everyone to not sit back and #FreeYourMind!
