The controversy surrounding singer Chinmayi Sripada and her husband, filmmaker Rahul Ravindran, following a discussion about marital customs has exposed a stark reality: in 2025, a simple assertion of freedom of choice for women can still trigger a venomous wave of online harassment. The vicious trolling that targeted the couple, particularly after Ravindran suggested a woman should have the autonomy to decide whether or not to wear a mangalsutra, became so extreme that Sripada was forced to seek police intervention.

The Spark: A Simple Statement on Equality

The entire incident ignited when a quote from Rahul Ravindran’s interview, where he discussed marital equality, went viral. He suggested that it was unfair to expect married women to wear a visible sign of marriage, like the mangalsutra (or thali), when men face no such comparable expectation. His stance was clear: the choice should be entirely up to the woman.

Chinmayi Sripada, a vocal advocate for gender equality and a key figure in India's MeToo movement, defended her husband’s perspective. What followed was a disturbing barrage of personal attacks and misogynistic abuse on social media, with trolls extending the harassment to her family and, shockingly, referencing her past trauma as a survivor of sexual abuse.

Vicious and Rabid: The Depth of the Online Abuse

The singer revealed the distressing nature of the attacks, stating that the abusers were "vicious and rabid." The harassment went far beyond simple disagreement; it involved rape threats, character assassination, and, most cruelly, bringing up her experience of sexual harassment to discredit her opinion. In a powerful counter-statement, Sripada directly challenged a troll, asking: “Why do men like you have to bring up my sexual harassment episode and my molester to prove some non-point?”

This episode underscores a chilling trend: online discourse often devolves into coordinated misogynistic attacks whenever traditional social constructs, particularly those concerning women's bodies and identities, are questioned. For many hardliners, the mangalsutra is not merely an ornament; it is seen as an indispensable religious symbol and the physical marker of a woman’s devotion and marital status. Questioning its mandatory nature is instantly perceived as an attack on culture and tradition itself.

Police Intervention: Fighting for Cyber Safety

Unable to tolerate the continuous abuse, Chinmayi took decisive action. She publicly tagged the Hyderabad Police Commissioner, urging them to take cognisance of the matter and register a formal complaint. She expressed her frustration, saying she was "sick and tired of this everyday abuse" and that women "deserve better."

The Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police acted promptly, registering an FIR and launching an investigation under relevant sections of the IT Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) pertaining to online harassment, threats, and offensive content. This decisive legal action sends a crucial message: online abuse is a tangible crime, and celebrities, particularly women, have the right to protection from sustained digital harassment.

The Chinmayi-Ravindran incident is a clear demonstration that the fight for basic gender equality and personal autonomy is far from over, and for many women in the public eye, speaking up for simple rights comes with the heavy price of cyber-abuse.
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