Chinmayi Sripada receives morphed image; kids sent death threats
What's the story
Singer and dubbing artist Chinmayi Sripada has filed a complaint with the Hyderabad City Police after receiving a morphed nude photograph of herself on Wednesday evening. The trolling, she said, intensified after her husband, filmmaker-actor Rahul Ravindran's comments on the mangalsutra. In a video message posted online, Sripada detailed the scale of abuse and threats directed at her family.
Details
'My children have been given death threats'
"I have been abused, my children have been given death threats." "I've filed a police complaint against a few on the Twitter Spaces who said that the kind of women they don't like shouldn't ever have children, and if they do, their children must die immediately. There were men applauding this." She added that while she has faced trolling since speaking out about harassment from a lyricist, the recent intensification of attacks is linked to Ravindran's comments on the mangalsutra.
Abuse
'Men do this to push us out of public spaces'
Sripada said, "A lot of people have abused me; they have been paid for by political groups. There was a particular Tweet today that shared a morphed photo of me in the nude." "I am sharing so women know these kinds of things happen, men do this to push us out of public spaces," she added. A fan page dedicated to creating fake images had shared the morphed picture.
Stand
'I'm not kind of woman who is shamed by this'
The singer also spoke about the increasing threat of deepfakes and AI-generated sexual images, warning that more women could be targeted by people looking to shame or intimidate them. "I am not the kind of woman who is shamed by this." She urged women, girls, and parents to file legal complaints if they ever face similar attacks. To recall, Ravindran had created controversy by saying wearing a thaali or mangalsutra is a woman's personal choice.
MeToo involvement
Sripada's role in India's MeToo movement and subsequent fallout
Sripada has been a prominent figure in India's #MeToo movement. In 2018, she accused lyricist Vairamuthu of sexual harassment and supported allegations against musicians OS Thyagarajan, Raghu Dixit, and Karthik. Following her revelations, the Tamil Film Dubbing Union terminated her membership under President Radha Ravi for non-payment of fees - a matter currently being fought in court.