Himanshi Narwal, Indian navy officer’s widow trolled after peace appeal

Two weeks ago, the photograph of a woman sitting motionless beside her husband’s body went viral across Indian social media.

It captured a moment of unspeakable grief – one that came to symbolise the 22 April militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed.

The woman in the photo was Himanshi Narwal, whose husband, a 26-year-old naval officer, was among the victims. The couple, who had been married for less than a week, were on their honeymoon when Vinay Narwal was shot dead.

But within days, Ms Narwal, who had been portrayed as the face of the tragedy, found herself at the centre of a hate campaign.

It started last week when she urged people not to target Muslims or Kashmiris as emotions ran high across the country.

Survivors of the attack have said that Hindu men were targeted, and that the victims were shot after the militants checked their religion. Indian security forces are still searching for the attackers.

Since the attack, there have been reports of Kashmiri vendors and students in other Indian cities facing harassment and threats, mainly from members of Hindu right-wing groups.

“People going against Muslims or Kashmiris – we don’t want this. We want peace and only peace,” Ms Narwal told reporters at a blood donation camp held by the family on what would have been her husband’s 27th birthday. “Of course, we want justice. The people who have wronged him should be punished,” she added.

It was her first public statement since a video of her bidding an emotional farewell over her husband’s coffin went viral. In it, the grief-stricken widow says with tears: “It is because of him that the world is still surviving. And we should all be proud of him in every way.”

Her appeal for peace sparked a swift backlash. Within hours, many of the internet users who had earlier mourned her loss were posting abusive comments.

Some accused her of dishonouring her husband’s memory as she refused to blame ordinary Kashmiris for the attack. Others made and shared unfounded claims about her friendships and relationships with Kashmiri men while studying at a university in Delhi. Yet more claimed that she had no right to speak about her husband’s death as they were only married for a few days.

As the online abuse continued, India’s National Commission for Women (NCW) wrote on X that the trolling was “extremely reprehensible and unfortunate”.

“Perhaps her reaction may not have gone down well with angry people. But any kind of agreement or disagreement should always be expressed with decency and within constitutional limits,” NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar wrote on X.

Journalist Namita Bhandare, who covers gender issues, told the BBC that it was “shocking” how much hatred Ms Narwal received for simply appealing for peace and calm.

She was viciously trolled because she “appealed for peace rather than succumbing to the narrative of revenge”, Ms Bhandare added.

Ms Narwal was not the only survivor of the attack to face online abuse.

Arathi R Menon, the daughter of a man from Kerala state who was killed in the shootings, was also trolled after she recounted her ordeal in front of the media.

Some people said that she spoke too calmly and didn’t display much emotion as she recounted her father’s death. Others found fault with her praising two Kashmiri men who she said helped her and took care of her “like a sister”.

“It is the same old story – women are always the easy targets,” says Ms Bhandare, adding that female victims of online abuse are also likely to be sexualised and threatened with violence.

“Being faceless online gives people the courage to say whatever they want,” she says. “And of course, there’s patriarchy at play, women are singled out, no matter who they are.”

Amid the abuse, Ms Narwal received support online as well.

“Your [Ms Narwal’s] statement in the face of that loss was an act of grace and unimaginable strength,” writer and activist Gurmehar Kaur wrote on X.

“My mother was your age when she lost my father in the [Kashmir] valley. I know this kind of loss.”

In 2017, Kaur, then a graduate student, became the target of a vicious social media campaign after she spoke against a Hindu right-wing student group after a clash at a college in Delhi. Many of the people who trolled her took issue with an earlier campaign by her where she said her father, a soldier who died in 1999, was killed by war, not Pakistan.

Journalist Rohini Singh welcomed the NCW’s statement supporting Ms Narwal, but asked why no action had been taken against the social media accounts “blatantly abusing and slandering her”.

Members of India’s opposition parties have also urged the government to act.

Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP from the Shiv Sena (UBT) party, tagged federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a post, asking him to “stand with the widow of an Indian officer” and take action against the trolling.

No Indian minister has commented on the trolling campaign yet, and no police complaint has been lodged.

Meanwhile, Ms Bhandare says that, like many online hate campaigns, this too may follow a familiar pattern: “It will run its course and then the people will move on to their next target.”

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