Social media’s dark side has come to the fore once again with Olympian wrestler Anshu Malik, who has won silver in World Championships and Commonwealth Games besides being an Asian champion, facing a distressing situation.
New Delhi, Sep 18: Social media’s dark side has come to the fore once again with Olympian wrestler Anshu Malik, who has won silver in World Championships and Commonwealth Games besides being an Asian champion, facing a distressing situation.
On Monday, a deeply troubling incident unfolded as an objectionable 30-second video, using Anshu’s morphed photo as the template, was circulated among the netizens.
After coming to know about it, Anshu’s father Dharamvir immediately lodged an FIR at the Sadar Thana in Jind, Haryana.
Speaking to IANS, Sandeep Malik, Anshu’s uncle, alleged that the 22-year-old wrestler’s photo was picked from the internet.
“The video is of a different girl and boy and it is around two years old. And the couple shown in the video are now husband and wife. The girl is from Himachal Pradesh and the boy is from Haryana. They are also wrestlers (local level).
“Anshu’s photo was used as a template in the video. We have demanded action against the person who did it. This is unacceptable… Anshu is a world-class wrestler yet someone is demeaning her name using fake and ugly methods. I am sure the police will crack the case soon. Our entire family is in shock right now,” Sandeep said.
Asked about Anshu’s current location, her uncle said, “She got injured during Asiad trials and went to Chennai for rehabilitation. She is one of India’s medal prospects at next year’s Olympics.”
Anshu became India’s first female wrestler to win a silver medal in the 57 kg category at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships.
She had won the gold in the 60 kg category of the Cadet Wrestling Championships. In 2020, she had won the bronze in the 57 kg event at the Asian Wrestling Championships here. In the same year, she won the silver in the women’s 57 kg event at the Individual Wrestling World Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia.
In the Asian Wrestling Championships in 2021, Anshu had bagged the gold.
In April 2022, she won a bronze in the 57 kg event at the Asian Wrestling Championships held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
In the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, she had to settle for the silver after reaching the 57 kg freestyle final.