“Never hit him,” vs “she hurt herself, with her own ring,” – the feud between a Bengaluru Zomato delivery executive and customer has gripped the internet. Ever since the incident came into the limelight, people have been tweeting strongly to seek justice for the victim. But who is the victim in this case? Kamaraj, the delivery executive, says he was beaten with shoes and abuses were hurled at him, which the customer, Hitesha Chandranee, has empathically denied. While the investigation is ongoing, social media has all rallied in its true fashion— defaming one, and announcing the verdict, based on he-said-she-said. Who wins that in the vitriolic town square of social media? NONE yet, but keyboard warriors chose to declare war, first against the company, and then against one gender as a whole, women!

On Day 1, it started off with #BoycottZomato

When Hitesha posted the first video of the alleged harassment, people soon rallied behind her, and demanded action with its ever-popular #BoycottZomato. Because as per trolls, boycotting an entire company is the solution to the problem.

And, after a round of he-said-she-said, it's against come back to #BoycottZomato.

'Mass Uninstalls'

#Boycott trend has been seen on multiple occasions and undeniably throughout this pandemic. In the recent case, Tweeple decided that Zomato should be held accountable for its executive’s alleged behaviour. While the latter is still arguable, how is boycotting an entire company solving the purpose here? If we cancel the food giant, will the boycotting culture save us from such behaviour or lies in the future? Think again!

While some social media users seem to have clearly taken sides and announced their verdict, some seem to be making sense.

#JusticeForKamaraj and #MenToo

After Hitesha’s viral video, Kamaraj’s statement to The News Minute shed a different light on the story. Soon, #JusticeForKamaraj took over social media as one of the top trending hashtags running on Twitter, ever since. Slowly, another hashtag #MenToo joined in, stressing the fact that not all men are wrong; likewise, not all women are always right. So far, so good! This solidarity soon turned toxic. In hours, justice for the victim turned into men vs women debate and finally vilifying the whole gender of women.

'Fake Feminism'

‘Fake feminism,’ ‘victim card/ woman card,’ ‘cosmetics and tears,’ and more are seen on accompanying many tweets on the internet. We do not know who is wrong or right in this case, but social media rages on blatantly taking sides, labelling an entire gender to be using the ‘victim card,’ and heaping scorn on anybody who dares to state an opposing point of view.

First of all, labelling anything as ‘fake feminism,’ is the maliciousness of a collective dream. A wife files a false dowry case against her husband—accuse feminism. A prominent female figure makes a controversial statement against men—feminism is the culprit. Saw a few girls publically smoke or drink? Ah, feminism again! Feminism aims for gender equality in society by creating awareness about various forms of oppression and discrimination based on sexes and addressing them. The ideology does not romanticise with culprits, be it any gender, and it is not against MEN, but strives for EQUALITY…. AND EQUALITY, ONLY!

‘Victim card, women card,’—Another old canard about feminists is that we want to turn all women into ‘victims.’ But feminism does not make women victims; sexism does. Besides, how else will you describe a segment of the population who are systematically discriminated against in school, work, politics and more? Women are harassed, attacked, and sexually assaulted with alarming regularity in India and around the world. No one likes to be a victim, let alone conceive of themselves that way.

'Women Have Two Weapons'

‘Women have two weapons; cosmetics and tears’—well, I am still trying to sink that in.

Is calling people out or shaming them or an entire gender on social media, boycotting—a means unto itself, or can it actually result in any measurable progress? The investigation is still on, and we have heard both sides of the story, but justice is yet to be done. Instead of boycotting, spewing hatred, taking sides, slandering a whole gender, there are appropriate ways to raise the issue.

Social media has sure given us the platform to voice our opinions, but not vilifying anyone. Like media trials, it seems social media trial is the new thing. You pronounce anyone guilty and innocent without any judicial observation yet. A woman is always not right, and a man is always not wrong. Whoever is misusing one’s gender or ‘tears,’ if proven guilty, should be punished; there is no left or right to justice. What we can do to prevent such acts in the future, is by not behaving either way in what the case purports. We should be ‘woke’ in our everyday lives, not only on social media. Treat all humans equally, admit that food deliveries can be late, and stop anyone we see if molested or harassed in front of our eyes—any gender! In this case, whoever turns out guilty, it should not be upon one entire company or one entire gender to take the blame.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2021 11:50 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).