Sandhya Ravishankar an independent journalist from Chennai, tracks the issue regarding illegal beach sand mining in Tamil Nadu for the past four years now. In a letter to the Press Council of India, the journalist alleged she has been tortured by the supporters of S Vaikundarajan, one of the largest beach sand miner South India. They have targeted against Ravishankar on blogs and through social media.She has been harassed and published online with trolls on social media using foul filthy language, they alleged calling her “corrupt” journalist, etc.Her mobile number was published onTwitter and Facebook through trolls supporting Mr S Vaikundarajan, the largest beach sand miner in the country. Subsequently, she received a flood of abusive calls to threaten.
Ravishankar first broke a story on this issue in 2013 at the time she was working with a television channel. Ever since she has been tracking the story and recently she published a four-part series in The Wire.
Ravishankar told media, that Vaikundarajan’s team has sent her a legal notice stating that they will be file a criminal defamation case against her. She was also accused of taking up bribes and in 2016, Ravishankar and her husband also got a legal summon from the Tirunelveli court.She further states in her letter:
"In that response to the magazine, to which I have absolutely no connection, the author has mentioned her as a “pimp”, has stated falsely that I am “bargaining with Vaikundarajan for Rs 200 crores”.Ravishankar given an open statement about Tamil publications like Vikatan, The Hindu (Tamil) are also bribed by the miner. The cyber crime cell of the Chennai, police is investigating the threats that she has been receiving.
