Mumbai: Rhiya Yadav, the 27-year-old model who halted a police van packed with protesters at Shivaji Park on July 22, morphing into a symbol of resistance on social media, on Monday visited the MIDC police station to record her statement in connection with her complaint alleging sustained online harassment, bullying and defamation since the incident.
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Ahir’s intervention had led the police to release the young protesters and saved them from legal wrangles on account of their possible detention. Videos of the incident were subsequently shared across social media platforms – while many lauded her courage and resolve, she also received numerous hateful and threatening comments and messages, she claimed.
“I don’t want my parents to be affected by this,” she wrote in the online complaint submitted on Saturday.
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Speaking with Hindustan Times, she said she had spent the entire day at the police station as officers recorded her statement and carried out other procedural formalities, including collating screen recordings and other digital evidence.
“I have been involved in this the entire day. It has been exhausting as I had to do this with only my father’s support,” Yadav told HT. The cops had been “very cooperative and responsive” and had expedited the process, due to which she did not have to meet a senior cyber cell officer as initially expected, she stated.
“The officers have assured me that they will take appropriate action,” Yadav said.
Yadav maintained that her bank account was not linked to Instagram’s exclusive subscription feature and she had not earned any money from the platform.
“Whatever I had posted on my exclusive subscription channel has been made public so that people can see and verify for themselves,” she said.
An officer from MIDC police said they had recorded her statement and were investigating the matter before registering an FIR.
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As reported by HT on Monday, Ahir filed an online complaint with the Maharashtra Police’s cyber cell on Saturday, seeking registration of a first information report (FIR) over alleged harassment, bullying and abuse via a social media campaign in the aftermath of the July 22 incident.
The 27-year-old model alleged that several social media creators were falsely accusing her of earning lakhs of rupees by selling pornographic content via her Instagram account, @rhiyaahir. Some content creators with substantial online following had even uploaded videos with blurred photos of her wearing a bikini, claiming they had accessed her “exclusive pornographic” content.
