KUALA LUMPUR: The mother of a cyberbullying victim says that certain parties are trying to divert attention from her daughter's case by making unscrupulous claims.
R. Puspa, 56, said some people were trying to paint her daughter, A. Rajeswary, also known as Esha, in a bad light by accusing her of having links to criminals outside the country.
Esha, 30, was found dead in her home on July 5, a day after lodging a police report in Kuala Lumpur, naming two individuals for allegedly trolling, bullying, and threatening to rape and kill her.
"Recently, I noticed a post, which linked Esha to a fugitive, and accused the government of trying to cover up, by saying this and that. It's obvious that the post was to put pressure on the government and to manipulate the issue to turn it into something political," Puspa told the New Straits Times.
Puspa, from Gombak, had just concluded her daughter's 16th day prayer ceremony.
In the video posted by an individual on Friday, Puspa said there were accusations that Esha was linked to a man living in Germany who is wanted by Malaysian police, and that she had been arrested over her links to him, prior to her death.
"The video is very misleading and seemed to be a form of instigation for the police not to take the case seriously. The two incidents are not directly related, and she was very strong, even after coming back from her remand. Esha's cyber-harassment and her earlier arrest are no secret," she said, urging the authorities to look into the motive of such posts.
In another interview, Puspa said she expected the punishment in her daughter's case to set a precedent for others not to bully anyone else in the future.
Despite being disappointed with the fine imposed on one of the cyberbullies by the court recently, Puspa said the family is confident that due consideration is being given by the government to amend the relevant laws.
"Although it hurts that one of the bullies, P. Shalini, 34, was only fined RM100 for causing my daughter to take her own life, I understand why it was so.
"I thought she would get a harsher punishment," she said, adding that she was satisfied with the charges against the other individual, 43-year-old B. Sathiskumar, also known as @Dulal Brothers 360 on cyberspace.
Esha, 30, had allegedly been cyberbullied by two people on TikTok to the extent of causing severe mental stress that led her to commit suicide at the home she shared with her fiancé in Setapak.