(Trigger Warning: This piece contains explicit, graphic language. We have also blurred/hidden images where Neha's modesty and dignity was being violated. Exposing hate and communalism is a key focus area in The Quint's reportage. Become a member and support our journalism).
Neha Bora, national president of All India Students' Association (AISA) has come to embody the rage that many citizens are expressing against Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and become the face of the recent student protests. As Bora continues to resist the police on the streets, in a much darker, murkier world online, they have also become the target of incels and right-wing's sexualisation and objectification.
While there were some scattered posts before, the number of these posts have increased since 4 October when Bora was detained and released in Narela Industrial area after their protest in Jantar Mantar.
Social media posts objectifying their body and focusing on their intimate body parts like chest — these visuals are still out there. There have already been reported incidents of violence that many, including Bora have faced on the ground while being forcefully detained by the police.
Add to this the sexualisation online, the nature of which is voyeuristic, reductive, violative of their bodily autonomy while simultaneously undermining Bora's politics and what they stand for.
'Showing Off Their Body...'
The Quint dug deep and found many posts and comments that have contributed into this sexualisation. Most of these accounts are either right-wingers and/or incel accounts.
But that is not it.
On 4 October, as police manhandled and pushed Bora, as some visuals were shot, part of their chest could be seen inadvertently briefly as they moved from one barricade to another, for no fault of their own.
Independent media channels like The Lead Line and Truth Voice chose to show the visuals violating their modesty, without even blurring using some discretion.
The comments on the visuals have ranged from "she is showing everything in the name of protest," "her figure is nice" and "she is doing this deliberately."
The vocabulary of misogyny speaks for itself and the amplification of such content shows that it is not happening in a vacuum. One of the visuals from a recent protest show a police official groping Bora's chest and then folding his hands and moving away, raising concern of sexual violence offline and online.
Several accounts since 4 October have posted defamatory and dehumanising posts against Bora in a language that is misogynistic and sexual. "She is mistaking this protest for her OnlyFans account," one X user wrote.
'Neha Bora Is A Mada': Comments By Right-Wingers
Faiz Khan, convenor of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, the Muslim wing of RSS recently said that Bora is not a woman but a 'maada.'
'Maada's (female animal) goal is to draw attention from men, that is her job. Whom Maada is trying to reach in UP, he's a Hanuman Bhakt, religious person. It's some other baba ji where you will get 'baba ji ka thullu," he said in a video.
Adding to this, another popular right-wing journalist and YouTuber Ajeet Bharti referred to Bora in a recent video and stated, "When activism overpowers you being a student, then it means that you are not a good student, hence you became an activist."
"Those who study they don't show their bodies, their butts, moan or make orgasmic face, they don't come down for that. they know these things are futile," added Bharti.
Chased by the Police, Sexualised for Running
Visuals of Neha Bora running in CP after giving a call to gather at RK Ashram made headlines. Bora was chased by the Delhi police and then detained as they attempted to run towards Jantar Mantar.
We reported on it here.
But we found that accounts such as 'CA_ashhh' and 'Lucid_Direction' have posted Bora's visuals, routinely spread misinformation hate against CJP, the former has also posted anti-Muslim comments.
Same with accounts like 'Krish_nvm_Raw' which called Bora 'Sydney Sweeney' which is in a way, dual-misogyny, if you may. Branding Sweeney as a sex object and using that to defame Bora.
A look at his account makes it evident that he posts pro-establishment and pro-PM Modi content.
As we researched more, we realised the nature of the language got progressively worse — exposing the rapist mindset with which they view Bora. Hence, several of these posts made refences to 'porn' and talked about groping/touching their body.
These obscene remarks, much like the others that we saw, have been about their undergarments and treating them as an object anyone can opine and comment on. For some reason, the incels have targeted not just Bora but a few other women protestors inquiring about their "bra."
Another aspect is that the hashtag that accompanied some of these posts was '#CJPFlopShow' which was used by the right-wing ecosystem on X to defame and deligitimise the CJP-led protest.
The discourse has not been limited to X or Instagram. Contributing to this discourse have also been Reddit threads such as these.
These comments reveal the perverted mentality of a section of the society that aims to puncture Bora's spirits. It's evident that while the majoritarian state which has aggressive in suppressing the recent protests, these pro-BJP accounts are taking the route of sexualising them instead of being able to critique or challenge their politics.
To attack their dignity and bodily autonomy, so that their sweat on the streets is not the only cost they pay for their resistance.