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Remember the picture of a shocked and grieving wife sitting beside the dead body of her husband, shot dead by terrorists at the Baisaran meadow on 22 April?
This was an image which became symbolic of the barbarity of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 unarmed people were killed.
Less than 10 days later, the same woman - Himanshi Narwal, widow of the murdered Indian Navy Lieutenant Vinay Narwal - is being subjected to the most vile and malicious comments on social media. Why? All because she chose to make a statement appealing against hate attacks.
Attending a blood donation camp in Karnal organised in honour of the victims on Thursday, Himanshi said:
We don’t want people to go after Muslims and Kashmiris. We want peace and only peace. Of course, we want justice. The people who have wronged him should be punished".
Her statement was posted on X by different news agencies. These are some of the comments that they received:
"She will take away her in-laws' properties and any money the government gives her."
"It appears she may have gotten her husband killed with the help of her Muslim terrorist boyfriend."
The camp where Himanshi made this appeal was being organised by the National Integrated Forum of Artists and Activists on 1 May, which also happened to be Vinay Narwal's birthday.
It was attended by local politicians such as BJP MLA Jagmohan Anand and received a massive response, with donors flying in from as far as Bengaluru.
"May his soul rest in peace," Himanshi said, her voice cracking in grief. She and Vinay had been married for just a week before he was taken away by the terrorists' bullets.
Backlash from Trolls
Instead of heeding her message for peace, many social media users chose to respond to it with more hate. Many of the posts contained personal attacks and malicious allegations against Himanshi Narwal.
One user on twitter/X posted, that "she will take her in-laws properties" and "leave them destitute".
The above X user has over 42,000 followers and is followed by Hindutva ideologue Francois Gautier.
Some people also expressed surprise on social media that a wife whose husband was brutally killed by terrorsts, is still seeking peace.
Some tweets alleged that she is seeking "limelight" and wants to "grab the compensation" so that "she can get married again".
Another X user, with over 46,000 followers, made even more malicious allegations against Himanshi and requested the National Investigation Agency to probe her for "having ties with terrorists".
One X user dug out posts from Himanshi's Facebook profile in which she had demanded justice for the rapists of a 6-year-old girl in Kathua, while another accused her of being "close to Kashmiris" during her university days. These aspects were presented as if they were proof of some kind of anti-national activity.
On Facebook, a user named Jitendra Kumar who has 77,000 followers and a picture with PM Narendra Modi as his profile picture, wrote that "Himanshi Narwal is from JNU and seems of secular mindset" and claimed that "there may not have been any affection between the couple".
One user accused Himanshi Narwal of hampering the government's work.
Not just Himanshi Narwal, a number of posts also targetted Arathy Menon, whose father N Ramachandran was killed by the terrorists in Pahalgam. Menon had made a statement praising local Kashmiris for helping her and said that two of them were now "like brothers" to her.
This post says that it is better to "remain childless than have a child like her".
LJP Functionary Joins Trolling Against Victim's Wife
One of the X users trolling Himanshi Narwal claims to be an office-bearer of Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, which is an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Bihar.
The user called her "mind-washed face of Indian secularism".
"Who is she? Just a widow or spokesperson of humanity?" the person wrote in another post.
The handle - @Abhishek_LJP - claims to belong to the Patna City head of Paswan's party.
We checked out the person's Instagram profile and it has pictures of him with an LJP signboard and another picture with Chirag Paswan.
The Quint reached out to Abhishek Singh to verify whether he had indeed written the post about Himanshi Narwal. He said, "Yes it is my handle and I have posted the tweet. Many people have written about it so why single out my tweet? I haven't said anything objectionable".
'You Are a Perfect Fauji Wife': Support for Himanshi Narwal
However, many people came out in support of Himanshi Narwal, both online and offline.
Senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta posted a message for Himanshi from Lalitha Ramdas, wife of Late Admiral L Ramdas.
"This is a personal tribute from possibly one of the oldest Navy daughters/wives alive today ....to the newest and youngest among the special fraternity of Naval Wives," Lalitha Ramdas wrote, calling Himanshi the "perfect fauji wife" for supporting secular and constitutional values.
(With inputs by Mohan Kumar)