Kerala girl who faced cyber-bullying to approach state Women's Commission

Kerala girl, who had to sell fish for studying, who suffered cyber-bullying for sarcastic comment against Congress leader, is now approaching women's forum

Hanan Hamid, alias Hanan Hanani, a 20-year-old college girl in Kerala who received much attention two years back for selling fish to meet her educational expenses, is once again in the news.

Hanan is facing cyber-bullying over the last few days, allegedly from Congress workers and supporters, after she posted a sarcastic comment against Kerala opposition party leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress. Apart from abusive comments, she was facing body-shaming and threats as well.

Hanan told DH that she would be filing a complaint with the Kerala Women's Commission. The commission chairperson M C Josephine had contacted her and ensured proper action. "I felt like being sexually abused in public for making an opinion. No women should face such harassment for expressing political comments. Hence I decided to file a complaint," she said.

With many accusing her of not being grateful to the Congress leader who built her a house, Hanan had to come out with a clarification saying that she was still staying in a rented house and had not taken the offer of Ramesh or that of any other person to build a house. She also said that an amount of about Rs 1.5 lakh, which she received from many as assistance, was contributed to the Kerala CMDRF for calamity relief.

"I wish to build a house once I complete my studies and secure a good job. Hence I politely declined the offers for constructing a house for me. I did not wish to take huge financial support for free. I did stage programmes and accepted the financial assistance offered by many organisations as remuneration," said Hanan.

Hanan made the sarcastic comment on Ramesh contacting a NRI Congress activist, named Usman, in Doha and enquiring about the hardships faced by the NRIs owing to COVID. But there were reports that Usman was in Kerala by that time and the Opposition leader had just staged a drama.

Hanan shot to fame in 2018 when a picture of the girl in college uniform selling fish was published by a vernacular daily. Hanan, who was doing her BSc, could not complete her studies as she soon suffered a serious road accident. The Kerala government had met her treatment expenses.

Even when her plight received much attention, Hanan faced cyber-bullying with many even alleging that she was staging a drama to grab attention. A couple of people were then arrested by the police for the cyber-attack against her.