Last Monday, actress Barsha Raut vented her grievances on social media through Facebook. The unnecessary and indigestible abuse on social media platforms had upset Barsha. Sharing the comment, she wrote, "It has become really difficult for me to live in this society."

She was seen in an interview with her husband Sanjog Koirala on a television show. The comments about her addressing Sanjog as 'you' were no less than sharp weapons for Varsha. 'Sometimes, a situation arises where a person has to bring up suicidal thoughts because it is not because they want to, but because of the expectations, pressure and injustice carried by society that push people down a roundabout path,' Varsha wrote on Facebook. She recalled the irony that society remains silent on violence against women and when women raise their voices, society follows suit.

Recently, whether it is artists, content creators or politicians, they are being hit by digital violence. No matter how much they try to ignore the attacks being made on them, they are becoming mentally traumatized. If you listen to Varsha's latest experience, she is unbearably torn by the abuse being thrown at her. 'I feel so bad. What did I say that I should spit in my face? What did I say wrong? The person I called you has not made any difference. He is not a person without culture,' she thinks to herself.

Not only this, she is disturbed by the rumors spread on social media about her personal life and relationships. Rumors related to her personal life on Facebook pages with many followers have been disturbing Varsha's sleep for some time now. 'Sometimes, even when she is not talking about something, videos are posted with titles like this. And nasty comments come,' Varsha complains.

Five years ago in 2077, when the Nepal-India border dispute was going on, there was a lot of 'bullying' on social media regarding Varsha's statements in an interview. Even though the intention was not wrong, the unnecessary attacks on her had an impact on her family. 'Mom also watches social media. She gets upset when she comes indiscriminately about her daughter,' says Varsha.

Singer Alina Chauhan, who is suffering from a series of injuries from digital violence, has many experiences. From trolling to indecent comments about personal life events, Alina was initially very mentally disturbed. ‘Even when I got a notification on my mobile, my heart would tremble. Reading the comments would hurt me so much that I would cry all night. I would wake up in the morning without sleeping,’ Alina recalls, ‘Digital violence can lead people not only to depression, but also to suicide.’

Initially, when she received many indecent comments, she thought, ‘I must be the bad one.’ Her confidence immediately plummeted. Even when she walked outside, she felt like people were looking at her. ‘They must be looking at her like this after reading my comments,’ Alina says. Unable to bear it anymore, Alina uninstalled Facebook. ‘Even when I uninstalled, someone else would come and tell me that someone had written to you like this. Pain is added to pain. It’s like you just left because you thought you were going to die,’ Alina adds.

The digital violence against Alina has not stopped yet. She recalls an incident when she went to watch cricket just a few days ago, “I was shocked to read the comments on a video of her dancing happily while watching cricket.”

Singer Samiksha Adhikari’s story is no less painful than Alina’s. Samiksha was waiting for justice during a time when she was going through many ups and downs in her personal life. However, society continued to inflict injustice on her on social media. The character assassination posts and comments hurt Samiksha a lot. She began to feel as if the world was against her. At that time, she felt as if all her fans had disappeared. “I would open Facebook, see abuse. I would be called names. It made my mother suffer even more,” says Samiksha. However, her mother gave her courage at that time and said, “You are brave, don’t lose courage.”

Samiksha has now returned to her normal life and is enjoying her creative work. However, rude comments have not stopped coming to her posts. When singer Jyoti Magar's song 'Dhade Biralo' was released 10 years ago, she still feels pain when she remembers the trivial comments and abuse that were showered on her.

'A rumor has been spread that Jyoti was beaten up and thrown in jail by a group of women because of the song. This rumor affected me the most,' Jyoti recalls, 'Even my mother could not sleep because of that rumor. I could not sleep for days.'

According to Jyoti, she also fell victim to 'depression' at that time. The effects of the mental stress at that time are still with her. Jyoti has experienced that when people spread misconceptions about her, their perspective, respect, honor and prestige were damaged. 'This is the hardest thing to bear,' says Jyoti. Jyoti has not stopped receiving cyber attacks, sometimes for her dress and sometimes for her style of speaking. 

Content creator Istu Karki, ticket maker Miss Pavi and many other artists are becoming victims of trolls and digital violence.

From attacks due to expressions to film boycotts

There are many examples of celebrities facing abuse on social media not only for their personal lives, but also for expressing any expression. Last April, actress Suraksha Panta, in a program called 'Prakash Subedi Show', had expressed her opinion about former Crown Prince Paras Shah and his son Hridayendra in a restrained manner in a context related by the interviewer. Not only was she hated and abused for expressing her opinion, there was a trend of boycotting the film 'Khel' starring her. Not only Suraksha, but actress Richa Sharma, who had expressed her opinion in defense of Suraksha, was also subjected to cyber attacks.

On the program host Prakash Subedi's own program, actress Deepashree Niraula was trolled and threatened on social media for her expression and Pooja Sharma for not answering questions on general knowledge. When actress Niraula asked, "Is Rajesh Hamal a superstar?" she was not only showered with insults and hatred, but a campaign to boycott her films was launched on social media. The incident was not limited to that, she also had to leave her regular television program. She apologized on social media in tears. However, the abuse against Deepa did not stop.

In 2002, singer and actor Prakash Saput praised former Prime Minister Oli for his life as inspiring at the launch of the book 'KP Sharma Oli: Sapana, Sangharsh and Sankalp', saying that he was a man of great social hatred. He was also subjected to caste-based comments. At that time, a campaign was launched to boycott the film 'Basant', which was close to its release. Since then, Prakash has been hesitant to speak at public events or programs. Even now, hateful comments have not stopped coming to his Facebook.

Why don't celebrities raise their voices when they criticize each other? They should also face this question. Actress Raut's experience says, 'I like to write a screenplay for another friend. But I can't dare because I get insulted after writing it.' Singer Chauhan also remembers what some of her friends said. 'They called me and said, They say they support it. They explain it. But, they are afraid to say the same thing on social media. They are afraid of being controversial,’ says Alina.

Why are celebrities more prone to digital violence? Writer and civic activist Sanjeev Upreti says, ‘Celebrities have more followers on social media. Whatever they write or say goes to the masses. There is a difference of opinion on what they say. When there is a difference of opinion, there is no habit here of discussing disagreements in civilized language. There is an atmosphere that if you have to protest, you have to curse. That is why this trend is seen.’

There is a law, no implementation

Nepal has had a special act on electronic transaction control since 2063, but its implementation is weak. According to the law, there is a provision that a fine of 50,000 to 500,000 and a prison sentence of 6 months to 5 years can be imposed. However, it is not easy for celebrities and those living in public life who are facing digital violence.

Former Minister of Urban Development and Transport and NCP In the experience of UML leader Ramkumari Jhankri, those who perpetrate violence through digital means are getting immunity. For the last five years, Ramkumari has also been under the grip of digital attacks. ‘For the past five years, cyberbullying has been happening on my Facebook walls and social media. Initially, I brought a policy that since I am a public figure, I should tolerate it. After a lot of research, people told me to speak up about this trend,’ says Ramkumari, ‘But, when I went to the Cyber ​​Bureau and Media Council to file a complaint, the bureau did not even take a written complaint. I filed so many complaints, but not a single case went forward.’

After the Gen-G movement, activities like tracking the location of Ramkumari’s house and threatening her inbox are increasing. Only a short while ago, Ramkumari had received a message saying, ‘You survived this time, wait, now it’s your turn. Where are you going?’ Ramkumari has also informed the CDO office about the threats received in her inbox. ‘When I come to file a complaint, they do a level-one investigation. And they say they will file a complaint. But that day never comes,' she says. She has experience that these things completely destroy people.

It's not that singers Alina and Samiksha haven't filed complaints with the Cyber ​​Bureau. However, they have experience that they haven't been heard much. On Ashad 19, based on Alina's complaint, one person who made rude comments was arrested. Apart from that, Alina says that many complaints are pending. 'Even if you report, nothing happens. There are 30/40 reports, they say nothing can be done. Nepal's laws are very weak,' she says. Actress Richa Sharma also tried to file a complaint, but the Cyber ​​Bureau didn't make any progress.

Profile public campaign

Actress Sharma adopted a new method after failing to punish those who wrote indiscriminately in comments and inboxes through legal means. She started making the profiles of those people public along with their messages and comments. After she started making the profiles public, those who commented and messaged started getting upset. Those whose profiles have been made public have apologized to Richa started asking.

‘Some people said that my career was over. They started apologizing saying that I would commit suicide. I kept forgiving those who regretted it,’ says Richa. After Richa, Samiksha and Alina also took the campaign further. After they started making public the profiles of those who made rude comments and messages against her, they also started deleting the abuse they had made.

‘I looked at the profiles of those who commented, there is a husband between the daughters and the wife! Aren’t I like that daughter too?’ She had expressed her grief to Kantipur Karmi at that time, targeting the characters who made rude comments against her. Now other celebrities are also following this campaign.

Even now, such comments have not stopped coming. Some of them have had to be ignored by Alina. ‘It has interfered with work. Now I am ignoring some of them,’ says Alina.

Richa also says that if she gets involved in these things, she will have problems with her mental health. ‘I still get so many messages. You are a flop heroine, your film is not doing well, you are lazy. When I go to her profile, she has opened her social media just to write so much. How do I know that person?’ says Richa.

Jyoti Magar also feels that she should not ‘waste’ time by chasing the wrong things. ‘Apart from this, I have many responsibilities. The biggest tackle is not to give value to that thing. I am right in my opinion, I am sure that these wrong things will disappear on their own. I feel that doing nothing is the way to tackle it,’ she says. 

leader Jhankri has recently adopted a new method. ‘After losing the election, I filtered the comments on TikTok as a trial. It made me a little more comfortable. And I did the same on Facebook. Now I am gradually putting them on the page,’ says Jhankri, ‘I have not done anything about X. A small team of friends is analyzing the comments.’

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Jyoti Magar says – ‘No one in Nepal has experienced as much cyber bullying as I have’ ’ How do you deal with digital violence?

I have been experiencing digital violence since 15 years ago. We are all responsible for this. We are not aware of whether we should use digital media or misuse it. Not only talking is cyber bullying, but also direct/indirect expressions or small writings on someone’s social media can affect another person. No one in Nepal has experienced cyber bullying as much as I have.

We go to the cyber bureau because we have been defamed. Even there, there is a small power play. There is a powerful group that does cyber bullying. That group will harass a person, sometimes accusing them of something they want or don’t want and then imprison them. Those who can’t do anything are not able to do anything, those who can are doing more than they need to. There is also a cyber army. Their profiles have been ‘created’ for attacks It happens. There is a group of people who do/know this through cyber networks. 

What kind of attacks hurt you in the beginning?

According to what I experienced, it was intentional bullying. Around 2013/014, when I released the song ‘Dhade Biralo’, there were some people close to my field who made news – Jyoti Magar had been beaten up by a group of women and thrown in jail. That rumor affected me the most. Even my mother could not sleep. I could not sleep for several days. I went into depression. The mental stress at that time has not yet healed. I know who I am. When people spread confusion about me, it hurts the way people see me, the respect, honor, and reputation they give me. What hurts people the most is when their reputation is hurt. This is the most difficult thing to bear.