Admin of FB page who called for violence against inter-faith couples now targets Barkha Dutt

by Arjun Sidharth

On February 4, 2018, Alt News had exposed how a list of more than 100 couples who had entered into inter-religious union was published on a Facebook page, and these couples were specifically targeted for violent assault. A page called Hindutva Varta had openly called for violence against these couples by putting out links to their Facebook profiles as a list in the public domain. Alt News had identified the admin of the page to be one Satish Mylavarapu. Facebook took down his page which called for violence, and three months after the story, his account was suspended by Twitter. Shockingly, he is now back on the social media platform.

Journalist Barkha Dutt on June 7, 2018 tweeted claiming that she has “received chilling veiled threats and ‘messages’ from powerful people in the Establishment today that my family and I are under surveillance…”.

In response to Barkha Dutt’s tweet, a user @SatishAnna2 tweeted,

@SatishAnna2 is the twitter handle of none other than Satish Mylavarapu. He did not stop there. When Dutt responded calling it a death threat and saying she will tag Delhi police for this comment, he replied, “It’s weakness of Modi government you and your fraternity is still alive…”

Mylavarapu kept up his tirade against Barkha Dutt, tweeting her photo and saying that leftist journalists make a lot of noise over false reports that defame Hindus.

Account suspended twice by Twitter

Mylavarapu’s account has been suspended not once but twice earlier by Twitter, after his brazenly abusive and openly threatening posts came to light. Three months after Alt News had reported how he was openly calling for violence against inter-faith couples, his account @satsmylavarapu was suspended.

However, Mylavarapu was back within a few hours with a fresh account @satismk. Interestingly, this account was almost instantly followed by BJP MP Udit Raj, among others. This account too was suspended by Twitter after users reported it.

Mylavarapu who is based in Bengaluru made international news when he published the list targeting inter-faith couples on his Facebook page. The hate-mongering on display was reported by the Washington Post and the UK based publication The Independent. Posted below is an excerpt of the article by The Independent which was published in April, 2018.

Satish Mylavarapu has repeatedly posted sinister messages on social media, openly advocating violence against minorities and often directly or indirectly threatening social media users with dire consequences. The fact that his account was suspended twice earlier has not crippled him. He is now back with a new account, thus rendering toothless the measures taken by Twitter to prevent him from spewing venom on social media with impunity. It is appalling that despite the open nature of this intimidation and abuse, no action has been taken against him so far by the Karnataka police.

About the Author

Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.