Journalist Says She Got Rape, Death Threats For Slamming Music Video

New Delhi: A journalist from an online news company has said she has faced rape and death threats for a video she produced that called out a music video as sexist and abusive. Deeksha Sharma, who works for The Quint, said the online venom against her and the news website flared up after the two-year-old music video by YouTuber Omprakash Mishra called 'Bol Na Aunty Aau Kya' was taken down by the video sharing site - though she says it wasn't because of her.

It wasn't just online, she said, people who disagreed with her also sent messages on WhatsApp, threatening her with the same fate as journalist Gauri Lankesh who was shot dead in Bengaluru this month.

The song, 'Bol Na Aunty Aau Kya', had touched almost three million views and 28,000 likes before YouTube took it down. 

"It was very alarming when YouTube took down the video because I felt that the trolls just increased... and it was not even because of us it was because of a copyright strike... which is why the video has been taken down," she said.

But others have posted the song back on the video sharing site. Reports also said many of its supporters have called for demonstrations outside the offices of The Quint.

The Quint, meanwhile, has taken down its video which had urged people to report the song to YouTube as inappropriate. "The Quint has voluntarily taken down this video because of the unprecedented amount of harsh abuse it has generated. While we stand by the editorial assertions in our video, we do not wish to put our brave reporter to unnecessary harm at the hands of criminals," it said in a statement.

Attempts were allegedly made to hack into The Quint's servers and Content Management System (CMS) software, the Press Trust of India reported. It said police have been requested to provide security to Ms Sharma.

Police say they are investigating the threats and an FIR is yet to be filed.