Online Harassment and Legal Action Target Women Protesters in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar Demonstrations

In the third week of July 2024, young demonstrators gathered at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to protest alleged question-paper leaks. Two women who posted videos from the site became the focus of coordinated online abuse and legal pressure.

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• Shradha Singh, a 23-year-old content creator, posted an Instagram reel on July 25 that featured her alongside Rapid Action Force personnel. Within hours, anonymous meme pages reshared the clip, accusing her of disrespecting the armed forces. BJP supporters traced her car’s number plate, obtained her mobile number and address, and called her with death and rape threats. Instagram later removed 33 of her protest-related posts, offering no appeal mechanism.

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• Ruchika Singh, a 15-year-old student, was recorded using profanity while naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The videos spread on Twitter and Instagram, prompting BJP supporters to publish her personal details, share AI-generated “Most Wanted” posters and demand her arrest. On July 29, six first-information reports (FIRs) were filed against her in Noida, charging her under sections 352, 353(1) and 356(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. She later posted an apology video on July 31 after sustained intimidation.

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The protests were organized by the youth-led Cockroach Janata Party, which demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities. The movement relied heavily on Instagram reels and private group chats, a departure from the BJP’s traditional text-first strategy on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp.

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• 33 Instagram posts by Shradha Singh were removed by the platform.

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• Six FIRs were lodged against Ruchika Singh on July 29.

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• The majority of abusive accounts targeting Shradha Singh had zero posts and zero followers, a pattern identified as coordinated troll-farm activity.

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Cockroach Janata Party spokespersons condemned the use of criminal machinery, calling the police action “absolutely unjustifiable” and asserting that lawyers were reviewing the case to prevent punitive measures.

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Legal analyst Alam argued that invoking section 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) was “most inappropriate,” noting that the provision presumes the statement would provoke the prime minister to break public peace. He further contended that sections 353 and 356 were misapplied, emphasizing that a private complaint is required for defamation claims.

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• “There is no limit to the death threats and rape threats that I’ve been receiving,” — Ruchika Singh

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• “I uploaded it purely for entertainment and not to show disrespect to the armed forces,” — Ruchika Singh

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• “The captions of several videos reproducing my reel are saying that I made abusive remarks, which I did not,” — Ruchika Singh

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• “I asked her to make a video apologising for her language but she refused,” — Smriti Singh

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• “It is evidently an exaggeration, a caricature, and a mockery of a public figure.” — Alam

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• “Some mischievous children used abusive language that doesn’t dignify any civilised society. They not only abused me but even my late mother.” — Narendra Modi, to prime minister

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The statement is expected to outline further legal challenges to the FIRs filed against Ruchika Singh.

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