New Delhi: Ms. Ira Singhal, UPSC topper of 2014 was trolled on social media. A person by name Bhupesh Jaswal trolled her by referring to her physical condition due to scoliosis.
Later, Ms. Singhal shared a screenshot and wrote a post on her Facebook account.
She wrote, ” For anyone who thinks people with disabilities don’t have to face anything, as the world is nice and kind – just sharing someone’s comments from my Instagram account. A face of cyber-bullying. Unfortunately someone who cannot be bullied is being attempted to be bullied. And this is probably a person who wants to be a Civil Servant. This is why we need Inclusive Schools and this is why we need our education system to focus on producing better human beings more than anything else”.
Responding to people who had requested her to take action against the troll, she wrote, “Thanks everyone for your kind words. A lot of people are asking that I get him punished. There are a few things to that – 1. Getting punished doesnt change your mentality. He will not suddenly become a great person. All that will happen is that our anger gets satisfied. What really needs to be done, is to help people change their mentality and attitude towards disabilities and abilities. 2. We think what he said is wrong. If we think so because we are talking about the fact that he is trying to abuse someone without cause then yes he is wrong. But if we think he is wrong because that word is bad, then we need to make that word become ok. Let us realise that being disabled – andha, behra, kubda, etc are not bad things. These words are bad if we think being that way is bad. So let us be clear that words are bad if we think being like this is bad”.
Giving her views against cyberbullying, she wrote, “But oh yes, attempting Cyber-bullying is bad and must not be tolerated”.
According to the report published in Times of India, she disclosed that this was not the first time she was targeted due to her physical.
She stressed on the need for classrooms where all kind of students study together. This will make them understand each other, she added.