Mahesh Bhatt's daughter Shaheen threatened
Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 14 2020 (HS): Actor Alia Bhatt's sister Shaheen has shared screenshots on Instagram of hate messages and rape threats that she has been getting from unknown people. Sharing the screenshots, she wrote: "Does this surprise you? Why? It doesn't surprise me." "So, I speak now to those of you who think it's okay to send me or anyone messages full of hate: If you send me a message with the sole hope (I say hope because I promise you -- nothing you say is keeping me up at night) of humiliating, insulting, or bullying me, then the following things will happen: -- The messages or comments will first be blocked and reported to Instagram directly.”
Shaheen contemplated whether or not to take a strong stand against the people writing hate messages to her, and then decided to take a stand to help create a safe environment for woman in India. She then wrote, "I wondered for days whether or not this was something I should address. I debated whether it was worth the effort it would take because ush, why waste time and even 1% of mental processor power on this. But then I realised, if I believe that the world should be a place in which women can feel safe and exist without being constantly threatened, sexualised or subjected sexist/misogynistic slurs with the sole intent to humiliate them - If I believe women should be treated like HUMANS. Then that's a world I have to help create."
She added, "And in order to create that world I have to draw boundaries in my own life and pursue action no matter how annoying or time consuming or downright sad it is.”
Addressing Instagram, she wrote, “To Instagram- you have zero tolerance policies for a lot of the content that people put up on your platform - I think it’s fair to say that misogynistic slurs, intended to subdue and oppress *should* fall under the umbrella of your zero tolerance community guidelines. But if you don’t want to receive abusive message turn off your message requests `Tired of being called a b*tch in your comments? Turn off your comments. Asking me to change the way I use a platform because of someone else’s hatred and misogyny is the equivalent of telling me that if I go out at night and get assaulted ‘I was asking for it’. I should not have to change the way I use a platform if someone is being abusive. They should. Full stop.”