‘Gurmehar Kaur Has Sex Slavery Fantasy’: Really, Mr Expert?

Activist Gurmeher Kaur was trolled by a noted defence expert, Sushant Sareen for her views on the Pulwama Attack.

(Photo: Twitter/Gurmehar Kaur and Sushant Sareen)

India, or Indian Twitter, let’s just say, is currently divided into two broad sections post the dastardly Pulwama Attack. One section, while condemning the attack, is calling for restraint and indulging in a dialogue with Pakistan, while the other section is calling for a karara jawaab or badla.

Now of course, whichever side of the debate you belong to, you are entitled to your opinion; because that’s what a real democracy is about, right? Apparently not.

Because sometimes, the level of debate can stoop so low, that an experienced defence expert sees no problem in saying that a student activist has sex slavery fantasies.

Here’s What Happened

A day after the Pulwama attack, Gurmehar Kaur, a much liked and hated student activist, tweeted against seeking revenge and baying for blood. Here are some of her tweets from a longer Twitter thread.

But Then...

Gurmehar Kaur was attacked in the most despicable manner not by a random troll... but by a respected defence and terrorism expert Sushant Sareen in a now-deleted tweet.

Sareen, who is a Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, has at an earlier instance called himself “an unabashed right-winger,” and has often appeared in TV panel discussions on Pakistan and other defence and security issues. As soon as Mr Expert tweeted this, others started pointing out how the tweet was a form of trolling with “violent sexual reveries,” as noted by journalist Raghu Karnad. There were also calls for ORF to sack the man.

Meanwhile, Sushant Sareen’s employer, ORF, has posted a tweet asking Sareen to delete the tweet.

The tweet has been deleted by Sareen, and he has also issued an apology on his Twitter timeline.

Because it doesn’t matter which side of the debate you are, but in a democracy, stooping to such a low level of discourse seems highly unbecoming of someone as influential as Mr Sareen.