Moral vigilantism to murder: How social media becomes state’s new battleground

The moral of the story is that murder is sometimes linked to a self-proclaimed morality, also known as taking the law into your own hands. So even when Amritpal Singh Mehron killed social media influencer Kanchan Kumari, popularly known as Kamal Kaur Bhabhi, last week and has since issued death threats to a second woman, Amritsar-based Deepika Luthra, not much stirred in the heat and dust of Punjab.

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Mehron says both women had uploaded “obscene and vulgar content” that he said was “polluting Punjab”. The only way to “correct” or “punish them”, according to Mehron, was to kill one woman so that it teaches a lesson to the others.

Mehron has fled to the UAE, according to the Amritsar police. Deepika Luthra has since received death threats from Babbar Khalsa International. A feudal society like Punjab, which is nevertheless fully updated with both modern and progressive thinking not just because of its reasonably high literacy levels but also because of the close connect with family and friends living in the West, is divided over this murder most foul.

What is clear is that Punjab is caught in a time warp. On the one hand, moral policing and a patriarchal hegemony continue to be bywords because an idealised image of women still prevails and women like Kamal Kaur and Deepika Luthra don’t fit that image. Deepika has 230,000 followers on Instagram, and is hardly unique from other social media influencers that are a dime a dozen across the country. From adlibs to cringe content, funny reels and dancing to popular Punjabi songs, Deepika’s Instagram page offers nothing really different from scores of other lookalikes. She mostly does collaboration and promotional videos for upcoming, small local businesses and food joints. She garners high views per post, between 100,000-500,000. Her comments section is replete with both admirers and misogynist trollers.

According to Mehron, Deepika’s choice of words and sexual gestures in certain videos are “obscene and vulgar.” He had tricked her into meeting him some months ago on the pretext of a possible collaboration. The meeting ended with a confrontation. Stop making these “obscene” videos, he told her. She apologised for what she had done.

And so the next age-old question : What was Mehron doing watching this content if he was so upset by it? Why was he keeping track of these women on social media?

The answers are far more complex. Fact is, social media is certainly accelerating the pace of societal change in Punjab. As age-old traditions fall and women embrace newer forms of freedoms, some of those they leave behind find themselves left behind because they dont keep pace with the women — and so many men take recourse to violence and harassment.

Deepika Luthra is not the only woman Mehron has threatened. There is Preeti Jatti, the Chandigarh based model, Instagram star Aman Ramgarhia and Goraya based Pooja Sangha.

Significantly, there is something else that these women have in common, besides Mehron — all belong to low-income families and rely on the monetization of their social media content. “I have a right to earn a living, and I am doing just that,” says Deepika, adding, “My family supports me. Why am I the only one being targeted?”

Anjali Mehra, social scientist, and Professor of Social Sciences at Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar told The Tribune, “Social media has become the easiest way to make money. The rise in unemployment, desire for fame, validation, leads to the chase for likes and followers. Women influencers online face misogyny and abuse, born out of patriarchy or policing women’s presence in public spaces. Relative anonymity provided by the internet/social media embolden people to engage with ‘vulgar cringe’ content, leaving women creators exposed to violence and threats.”

Raj Lali Gill, Chairperson of the Punjab State Commission for Women, says this targeting of women by self-styled vigilantes is a dangerous trend. She, nevertheless, offers advice to Punjab’s women. “Women should restrain themselves from putting content that challenges Punjab culture and traditions. However, one thing is clear — self-styled crusaders cannot take law into their own hands.”

The question remains — who are these women making this content for? For their lakhs of followers, who are consuming it without any guilt or fear of murder?

Consumption of “vulgar cringe” content on social media has significantly increased, particularly among younger audiences across platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. While most blame it on algorithm-design, brands capitalise on their demand and supply.

The problem is deep rooted, especially among youth from rural Punjab. “The illusion of fame, easy success and wealth influence them, triggering ambitions and they assume this alter ego on social media as reality. Also, money through brand deals, sponsorships, and ads, especially if traditional job opportunities feel out of reach, tempts them,” says a sociologist who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

What vigilantes like Amritpal Mehron do is to take this vulnerability and mix it up with a misplaced sense of moral superiority so as to justify violence — murder becomes a justified, if extreme, form of punishment.

Still the fact that Mehron has fled the country also means that he knows that he has crossed a red line. He knows he could have deleted Kamal Kaur Bhabhi’s “obscene content” and/or moved on. The fact that he chose to take matters into his own hands means he knows what he was doing. Murder is not moral policing, it is murder.