SODELPA Provisional Candidate Claims Facebook Account Was Hacked
Party’s female MPs, women’s activist group shocked by ‘derogatory’ statement posted on social media.
SODELPA provisional candidate Anirudh Kamal Sharma claims his Facebook account was hacked on Tuesday.
He made these claims after Fiji
Sun questioned him and showed him screenshots of a derogatory comment made from his account. The comment was made from Mr Sharma’s account around midday on Tuesday. It was deleted three hours later.
Mr Sharma, who is also a pastor, had not made any comments that his account was hacked and when he was able to retrieve it after Fiji
Sun called him yesterday afternoon and asked why he had made certain comments on Facebook.
Mr Sharma responds
After repeated messages sent on messenger which remain unanswered, when called over messenger, he said: “My account has been hacked many, many times. People have been trying to do everything they can, so I can’t say much.” When questioned if he was willing to hand over his account details to Police to investigate his complaint, Mr Sharma hung up. He also refused to answer any further questions on how he managed to retrieve his account and if the account was indeed hacked, and how was the comment deleted from the post.
He did not deny that the comment was posted from his account. He went on to put a public post on Facebook after 5pm yesterday saying his account was hacked. Meanwhile, Fiji Sun reached out to SODELPA women MPs and women’s rights group on how possible 2018 general election candidates need to behave on social media. They were sent the screenshot of the comment made from Mr Sharma’s account.
Background
A fake account had posted up that $150 million had been collected through the Environment and Climate Adaptation Levy and questioned where this money had gone. Heated debate ensued and out of nowhere, a comment from Mr Sharma’s account was posted in support of the fake account which had posted up the original post and said the money had gone into the sister of a man who had opposed the post.
Women speak out
The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement executive director, Nalini Singh, when informed of the comment, said: “Whether it’s a provisional candidate or a potential candidate or anyone, that kind of language is totally unacceptable, totally not required whether it’s a comment for a woman or for a man, that kind of language is offensive and is totally unnecessary.”
SODELPA Member of Parliament Salote Radrodro, when asked what she thought of such comments, she said: “Responsibly, respect and restrain and wise counsel must be exercised and such comments against women runs against our efforts in promoting the empowerment and development of women in all spheres of our society.”
Party Leader Sitiveni Rabuka is currently in Kadavu and could not be reached for comment. Screenshots of the comment were also sent to SODELPA’s general secretary, Adi Litia Qionibaravi. No response was sent when this edition went to press.