FIR after Facebook executive complains of 'threats to life'

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Monday registered an FIR based on a complaint from Facebook's senior executive in India, Ankhi Das on allegations that certain people due to their "political affiliations" were making "threats, making sexually coloured remarks and defaming" her.

The complaint from Das said that the threats were in relation to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which revealed that she, as Facebook's policy head in India, had purportedly allowed several members of the ruling BJP to continue operating their accounts on the social media platform despite their posts qualifying as hate speech.

A senior officer told Millennium Post that, "On a complaint regarding online threats and harassment received from Ankhi Das, Facebook India, a case has been registered under relevant sections of law on August 17, 2020 and investigation has been taken up by CyPAD Unit of Delhi Police." The investigating agency will probe the role of more than five social media handles from two social media platforms.

In her complaint, she stated she has been receiving threats ever since the publication of the WSJ article. "The content, which even includes my photograph is evidently threatening to my life and body and I fear for my safety as well as that of my family members. The content also maligns my reputation based on a news article and I am subjected to name-calling, cyber-bullying and eve-teasing online," she told

police.

Das alleged that she was intentionally vilified by the accused due to their "political affiliations" and are now engaging in online and offline abuse, subjecting her to "criminal intimidation and making sexually coloured remarks".

The perpetrators are deliberately operating through online accounts to hide their identity and to further spread misinformation and incite violence against me to meet their agenda, sources said quoting the victim's

statement.