Who won? Depp-Heard verdict slices public opinion in India

A story of domestic violence that echoed across the world has incited equal parts of hate and anger

For six weeks, a saga played out inside (but also outside) a courtroom in Virginia, televised for the world to see Johnny Depp sue his ex-wife Amber Heard for defamation after she spoke about domestic violence in a 2018 op-ed.

On June 1, a verdict ordered Heard to pay Depp $15 million and him to pay her $2 million. Both parties were found guilty of defamation. However, in the court of public opinion, Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) had long been declared innocent by legions of fans.

Online, where there was tremendous support for Depp, Heard was brutally mauled. Across social media platforms, from Twitter to TikTok, the 36-year-old was deemed the actual abuser in the relationship.

Depp, 58, was given frontman status for the cause of male domestic violence. This chorus has only grown louder since the verdict, joined by a string of notable Indian names.

Actors Ali Fazal and Kushal Tandon congratulated Depp on social media and opined that the verdict sets a "precedent" for the future.

To Tandon, this looked "like a personal win." He has spoken about "female bullies" in the #MeToo movement. Singer Sona Mohapatra, meanwhile, also joined the conversation saying Heard set back the many "genuine cases of women who get the shorter end of the stick."

Also read | Depp-Heard trial: Two victims and a few million jurors

Cyber law expert and women's online safety advocate Dr Debarati Halder told DH that the case has "definitely set bad examples" for cyber safety. The broadcast of the case, especially, risked the trolling of either party.

"The right to be forgotten will not be applicable here because this is something that has created public documents, public contents," she said. She said this would lead to harassment of the alleged "victim" and their immediate social circle, including family members, lawyers, and supporters.

The global army backing Depp, a sizeable female population that self-professedly includes many GBV survivors, is meanwhile convinced that the verdict is a watershed in the best way possible. It gives a positive boost to the voices of male survivors everywhere and also weeds out the dishonest accusations.

Singer Karan Oberoi, of A Band of Boys fame, who was jailed for a month in 2019 in a rape case later found to be false, remarked post-verdict that both #MeToo and its counter #MenToo movements would be benefitted, and that "real truth should always prevail irrespective of the gender."

Many feminists, on the other hand, believe that the Depp-Heard trial and verdict have dealt a hard blow to #MeToo.

"When domestic abuse survivors speak up, they are, in many ways, challenging this power system," Julie Thekkudan, gender justice practitioner and South Asia consultant for Equality Now, told DH. "This is always difficult and often evokes huge backlash directed at individual women and women in general."

"There is already a lack of trust in the system, and the outcome of this trial is that others may be deterred from telling their stories. They may fear that instead of being believed, they will be blamed, and potentially even criminalised."

Some of the most viral posts through the trial were those accusing Heard of putting up a performance for the camera during her testimony.

Thekkudan said it is "vital that we address harmful stereotypes about what a 'real victim' of domestic violence looks like."

The Depp-Heard trial has left a bitter aftertaste in its wake. The overhanging question asks: Is there a victor? It's a pressing conundrum that deserves attention regardless of which side of the debate one is on. The verdict, but more the public noise surrounding it, has multiple loose ends that monetary compensations have not and cannot tie up.

(Tanvi Akhauri is a freelance journalist and features writer covering the arts and culture beat)