Tougher laws called for to halt maligning of female candidates in social media

… sexual misconduct insinuated to scare them off

Text and pix by PRIYAN DE SILVA

Former member of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka Prof. Rathnajeevan Hoole said that tight laws were needed to curb maligning of women in social media, or no woman would come forward and contest an election. He added that accusing female candidates of sexual misconduct was a terrible thing.

Hoole said such baseless allegations had been levelled against female candidates in the Eastern Province, and TNA National List candidate Ambika Sathkunanathan had also been a victim. 

The victims of libel could not resort to legal action due to the cost factor, Prof. Hoole said, suggesting that the parties they represent come forward to have the culprits brought to justice. Mangaleshwari Shankar who possibly led the popularity ratings among the females in the Batticaloa District of the Eastern Province, nominated to contest the 2020 parliamentary election, said it was not easy for women to engage in politics.

“It is terrible” she said, noting that even months after the election there were attacks on her in social media.

A lawyer by profession Mangalaeshwari, better known as Mangala Shankar, is a human rights activist, a former Legal Manager at Transparency International Sri Lanka; she also worked for the Centre for Human Rights Development (CHRD) and at present is a visiting lecturer at the Open University of Sri Lanka. She also worked extensively with women’s organisations  in the district, and this prompted her to take to politics. She made her intention known to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which did not show any interest, but a few days before nominations closed she was invited by all the main parties including the TNA to contest.

 She opted to accept the invitation of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai  Pluvial (TMVP), even though it was not the most popular party. Thereafter, a smear campaign was launched against her.

  “In early July a fake Facebook page in my name was created by someone and  initially it  duplicated the posts on my actual Facebook page but later on posts appeared  defaming other candidates.

 “Everyone thought, I was behind those attacks, and I complained to the Police, the Elections Commission, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) and subsequently to Facebook itself, she said. The page was removed by Facebook in the first week of September but the damage had already been done. 

 She also said that there were hundreds of other social media accounts that posted insulting, humiliating and abusive posts in Tamil.

In Batticaloa, Mangala Shankar was not the only female candidate to be defamed in that manner. Senior Lecturer at the Eastern University Dr. Chandra Mahendran said that there had been a sinister campaign to prevent her from contesting. She had to overcome many obstacles even before she was able to sign the nomination papers.

Ambika Sathkunanathan was on the TNA National List. Baseless allegations were made against her, as well.