Being a woman, in general, comes with a batch of awesome-sauce abilities coded into your DNA. But being a woman in India means that you have access to a whole new skill set. You know how to cover your sanitary napkin purchases at the drugstore in a gamma ray-defying bag, you know how to will your bra strap into invisibility and you know how to avoid the ‘Others’ folder in your Facebook inbox with all the dexterity of Homer Simpson being chased by a quinoa salad.
Investigative journalist Rana Ayyub, however, was running short of her usual supply of damns to give, and decided to name and shame a pervert for sending her lewd messages.
Just a sample of the filth i receive on my facebook page. Time to name and shame this pervert pic.twitter.com/e6xeA019JF
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) April 6, 2017
And that’s where things got interesting. Based out of Sharjah, 31-year-old Bincy Lal was employed at Alpha Paints (a sister company of National Paints) which decided to look into the matter and found him guilty of abusing women online and posting anti-Islamic messages. Lal was subsequently pulled up by the HR team and fired from his job. A company representative also personally contacted Ayyub to apologise for the trauma she had suffered at the hands of their ex-employee.
This pic.twitter.com/JVeG8Yq9au
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) April 11, 2017
And while they were setting an example anyway, the UAE government decided to treat Ayyub’s post as a formal complaint and revoked the offender’s visa, subsequently signing an order for him to be deported back to India.
UAE govt has revoked Bincy Lal’s visa and r deporting him back to India. A lesson for those who harass us, will drag you out of ur ratholes
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) April 10, 2017
In a world where most women choose to live with online abuse, rather than speak up about it, we may finally be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
