Shahbaz Ansar and his wife Khyati Shree.
Credit: Instagram/shahbazansar_
Hateful messages or threats are a common occurrence in the comment section or DMs (direct messages) of women who have a significant presence on social media platforms.
Khayti Shree, a social media influencer and travel vlogger is not oblivious to such threats. However, in a recent incident when a man threatened to "throw acid" on her "over her choice of clothes", Khyati and her husband Shahbaz Ansar decided to bring it to public knowledge and posted a screenshot of the threat on X (formerly Twitter).
The man, later identified as Nikith Shetty was fired from his job as a business development professional after the post went viral.
Shahbaz Ansar, who works as a journalist told DH that he received the threat in direct messages of his X account.
"...,kindly tell your wife to follow a good dress, especially in Karnataka or else I may splash acid on her face," Shetty allegedly said the message on October 9 to Ansar.
"This is serious. @DgpKarnataka @CMofKarnataka @DKShivakumar. This person is threatening to throw acid on my wife's face for her choice of clothes. Please take immediate action against this person to prevent any incident from happening," Shahbaz wrote on X tagging the authorities in Karnataka.
Shahbaz also expressed concern over the safety of the women who work at the same oganisation as shetty and wrote, "I don't think women are safe in this organisation."
The post triggered the netizens to dig deeper into the accused which eventually prompted Etios Services, Shetty's employer, to take action against him and terminating his employment for a period of five years.
"We are deeply saddened to address a serious incident involving one of our employees, Nikith Shetty, who made a threatening statement regarding another individual's choice of clothing. This behaviour is absolutely unacceptable and goes against the core values we uphold at Etios Services," the company wrote in an Instagram post.
The company also said that it filed a case against the employee "to ensure accountability for his actions."
When asked about the action taken against Shetty, Shahbaz told DH that the company's step is "commendable". "It does set a precedent. At least the person won't think that he has all the immunity," he said.
He also said that the accused losing his job poses another threat now to them of Shetty trying to take vengeance.
'Police did not seem very keen to take action'
Under Shahbaz's post, the Bengaluru City police replied, asking him to share his contact details. However, when asked about any police action in the matter, Shahbaz said that an official of the Karnataka police's social media cell did contact him but "did not seem very keen to take any action."
"They asked me to file a complaint. When I told the official that I am travelling and requested to take suo motu action or at least track the person, he did reply positively but, it sounded more like formality," he said.
Talking about the incident, Khyati said that she has not posted anything on her Instagram account, which has more than 7 lakh followers, for the past ten days. "I am not able to shoot videos for the past few days. These threats are a regular thing, but they do take a toll on your mental health."
"I am glad that people came to my support and some action was taken. Otherwise, for women who do not have reach on social media, their voices just go unheard," she added.