Man who started hate drive against Kerala teen held

Police in Kochi on Sunday arrested a man in connection with a cyber attack on Hanan Hamid, a college student who became an internet sensation after she sold fish in a Kochi market in her college uniform, to support her studies and her ailing mother.

Viswanathan, a Guruvayur native, was arrested by the Palarivattom Police from Thrissur and remanded.

The police had, on Saturday, taken into custody Nooruddin Sheikh, a native of Wayanad, for having initiated the hate campaign against Hanan through which internet trolls attacked the girl for trying to "sell a fake story" of her struggles. Sheikh was released after questioning.

Lalji K, assistant commissioner of police, Ernakulam told reporters that more people would be taken into custody in connection with the case.

Hanan's story went viral on the internet last week, after a Malayalam daily reported on her selling fish at the Thammanam market in Kochi.

She had been selling fish at the market after college hours. It also set off a series of trolls, many of them claiming that she had faked the story to launch a career in films.

Soon, the backlash made way for a wave of support for her. Hanan also found the backing of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who called for greater caution in the use of social media.

The parents of Hanan, a 19-year-old B Sc student in an Idukki College, are separated and she has been fighting a partial hearing problem.