An Indian employee working in a UAE-based company has been fired for sending sexually explicit messages to renowned journalist Rana Ayyub on Facebook.
The accused identified as Bincylal Balachandran hailing from Kerala has been working in Dubai for a firm called Alpha Paint, a sister company of National Paints in Sharjah, since 2015.
On April 6th, Rana tweeted from her handle with the screen shots of the inappropriate messages sent by the alleged, thus bringing the issue to the foreground.
She tweeted:
Just a sample of the filth i receive on my facebook page. Time to name and shame this pervert pic.twitter.com/e6xeA019JF
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) April 6, 2017
In addition, Balachandran had also made some abusive posts against Islam on his Facebook page. On finding this out, the company checked his Facebook account and summoned him.
Human resource manager of the company, Shadi Al Refai said “We verified the accuracy of the information and checked on the name of the man. On April 8, at 8 am the termination order of (B.B.) was issued.”
Four days after Rana’s first tweet, she again took to twitter claiming that the man’s visa had been revoked and that he would be deported back to India.
UAE govt has revoked Bincy Lal’s visa and r deporting him back to India. A lesson for those who harass us, will drag you out of ur ratholes
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) April 10, 2017
As social media continues to trend in India, cases of harassment, abuse and online threats are not new. On world’s largest social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter where people are free to share unfiltered opinions; people are often being targeted. With an unrestricted access to such forums, online harassment is becoming common because of the lack of accountability and anonymity.
Nevertheless, they are instances of harassment and if you too are facing the same, its time you resist it.
As Balachandran faces consequences for his deeds, Rana tweets:
Happy to be trending on twitter for a promising beginning. Hope we in India set a similar precedence of zero tolerance towards harassment.
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) April 10, 2017