Vengeance is far harder to carry out than it may seem

n June last year, aman named Renukas-wamy, who worked ina medical shop, was found dead miles away from home in a drain in Bangalore.

- MANU JOSEPH

It later emerged that he wasa fan of Kannadaactor Darshan and had sent an indecent message to another actor, Pavithra Gowda, believed to have beenina relationship with Darshan at the time.

The prosecution's case is that Darshan’s henchmen abducted Renukaswamy, beat him up, tortured him, including with electric shocks, and in the process killed him before disposing of the body. It is also alleged that Darshan and Gowda themselves had beaten up the man in their custody, it is alleged. A few weeks ago, Pavithra Gowda’s fresh bail pleawasrejected. Around the same time, the Supreme Court had cancelled Darshan’s bail, placing him back in custody.

The police do accept Renukaswamy had a history of sending lewd messages to women. If what the prosecution maintains is true, then Renukaswamy died froma reaction to his trolling. He would never have imagined that a message from his phone could result ina violent and painful death.

Most trolls, online or off, do not realize how dangerous their actions are. People whoare slighted or infuriated can actin ways that are out of proportion to the offence.

Peopleseem to carry a parallel life in their minds, where they react to injustice against them with imagined acts of violence. These fantasies are rarely proportional to the actual harm suffered. There isan episode of Black Mirror where aman designsa complex scheme to lure people into trolling a writer, and then sets out to kill them through robotic insects because he despises trolls. Watching it, I couldn’t help but feel the writer was probably living out a fantasy.