GUWAHATI: Papri Banerjee, a teacher of Icon College in Guwahati, has gone missing after getting multiple rape, death threats for posting objectionable remarks on the Pulwama terror attack that shook the country.
A case was registered against Papri Banerjee, assistant professor of English at Icon Commerce College, Guwahati for posting objectionable remarks on Facebook regarding the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir.
The case was registered at Chandmari police station under Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66 of the IT Act. However, Papri failed to show up at the police station for questioning and it was later found that she had gone underground.
Papri was summoned to Chandmari police station for questioning on Saturday, February 16, but was let go after initial questioning. She was asked to return to the police station on Monday, February 18 for further questioning but did not show up.
“We sent a police team to her house for questioning on Monday but her father told us that she has been missing since Sunday morning,” informed Biren Chandra Deka, OC of Chandmari police station speaking to G Plus.
Banerjee reportedly fled from her residence on Sunday morning. Her guardians have alleged that she left behind a letter stating that she wants to spend some time alone, away from all the death and rape threats that she had been receiving following her controversial Facebook post. However, they have failed to produce the letter to the police.
Deka further added, "Search is on to find Papri Banerjee as she has violated the norms by not showing up at the time of questioning. Further, the guardians have neither filed a police report nor have been able to produce the letter allegedly left behind."
Post the Pulwama attack that shook the nation, Papri Banerjee took to Facebook to express her views. In her post, while Papri condemned the attack, she also criticized the Indian Army and their “atrocities” on civilians in the Kashmir Valley.
Banerjee, on February 15, had posted that while the killing of the CRPF jawans was an act of cowardice that broke the hearts of all Indians, she further alleged that the army men in Kashmir rape women, maim their children and slaughter their husbands.
"The terrorism maybe Islamic but Karma is a very Indic concept," she wrote.
The Facebook post has been criticized and shared widely on social media platforms following which Banerjee had received death and rape threats.
“Continuous rape, lynch and death threats in my inbox. Assam Police should go back to the names in my previous FIR if any harm were to come over me tomorrow,” she wrote in another post on Facebook.
She was suspended from college with immediate effect for posting objectionable remarks on Facebook regarding the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir and the Assam police also took cognizance of a tweet that reported the objectionable post by the professor. “Thank you for bringing this to our notice. This is being looked into and appropriate action will be initiated,” the official handle of Assam police tweeted.
Banerjee’s post draws the ire of Netizens
Papri Banerjee’s post on social media regarding the Pulwama terror attack gained massive traction. Not only was she criticized for her objectionable remarks on the Indian Army personnel, she was also bashed for her previous posts which were termed “anti-national” and “anti-social” by many. The post was widely shared across social media platforms by netizens demanding the police to take strict action against her.
“I went through the complete profile of Papri Z Banerjee. I can only say that she is an anti-social element. A teacher is expected to teach good things to the students. Because of this type of element in our society the environment is getting worse. She should be appropriately punished for her comments by the government,” expressed Nipin Dhandaria.
In the same vein, one Richa Ric Barua commented, “Such a shameful statement by an educated woman and her mentality towards the defence people is really cheap. Strict action is really needed so that people like Papri Z Banerjee do not dare to speak s*** on social media only to gain fame and popularity.”
However, social media users became even more furious after Banerjee absconded. Netizens demanded that the city police step up vigilance and arrest her at the earliest. Some also bashed her for being a coward and running away.
“Wasn't she a self-proclaimed “fighter”? She seemed to have declared an online war against the present government. When the time came to prove her point, she ran away,” Pronoy Zeet said.
Similarly, Bishwajeet Sharma also commented, “She's the so-called tigress of social media when it comes to defaming the Hindu religion and culture, abusing army, supporting tukde tukde gang and now this. Why this drama ma'am? Where has all your bravery gone? You ran away like a coward instead of facing the law. What do you think yourself to be a pro and police can't find you? No you're wrong. They will find you and you'll face what law serves you. And you know what? This is karma. This is sanatani karma.”
