Want abuser brought to justice: Neha Saxena

South-Indian actor Neha Saxena had a recent scrape with cybercrime, where an employee in Dubai sent a message to her manager on WhatsApp, asking if the actor ‘was available for a night stand’. The actor vouches that it has been a series of harrowing events since then.

The actor with the help of friends tracked down the details of the man.
“His name is Elson Lohidakshan (who is also known as Unni Krishnan). My manager tried calling him, and his phone was switched off. He deleted his profile photograph and changed his profile name soon after. Since his social media profile was private I wasn’t able to gather more details apart from two photographs which helped me locate his wife. I reached out to her and asked her about the incident and she was shell-shocked,” she says.

Neha says it has been an emotional ride since then. “The wife sounded helpless and said that her in-laws vouched that Elson’s phone had got hacked which had led to the confusion. But, if that was the case, why had he blocked calls and why was no one able to locate him?” she asks.

“The wife asked her how this issue could be handled subtly. I said that as long as I could be assured that nothing like this would happen again and I get a handwritten apology letter from him, I was ready to let the incident pass. Nothing of that sort happened. Since then I have sent out complaints to the police in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bengaluru (where the actor resides), Dehradun (her hometown) and Thrissur (Elson’s hometown),” she adds.

The actor is frustrated that the law and order is taking time to handle the incident. “It can be really exasperating for a victim when their complaint takes so much time to be with dealt with. I even asked the cops about what the delay was about. We have given them all the details including where he is from. I have support from my fans. I’ve got justice from my fans but I need justice from the law,” she says.

Neha is also facing disrespectful comments online. “People are commenting on my social media posts through their fake profiles; demeaning my work and my character. My Facebook account was logged in from Agra on Monday; I know no one there. A lot is happening,” she says.

She says that she isn’t fighting this battle as an actor. “Most harassment victims and families go through hell. It is not easy; I am fighting for my self-respect, and I am fighting this as a middle-class girl. I don’t believe in talking about something that happened now after years,” she says.