Mumbai, May 4: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Sunday condemned the online abuse allegedly directed at Himanshi Narwal, the wife of Indian Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, who was killed in the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Chaturvedi said those responsible for the trolling were linked to the ruling party and accused them of spreading hate while the widow sought justice.
Lt. Narwal, 26, a native of Karnal, Haryana, was among the 26 people killed in the deadly attack. He had been on his honeymoon with his wife, Himanshi, when he was shot at point-blank range by terrorists in Pahalgam.
“In the Pahalgam terror attack, a young Navy man was shot dead. Today, his young wife is being maligned, character-assassinated, abused, trolled, and hated upon because she asked for justice over hate,” Chaturvedi posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“She’s the one dealing with the loss. She will have to live a life with only memories of her slain husband, and all that these sick trolls offer her is more hate. How are they any different from the terrorists? One killed her husband physically, these keyboard haters are killing her spirit mentally,” she wrote.
Chaturvedi also criticised Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for not speaking out.
“And we have an IT Minister who thinks he can turn a blind eye to it because the ones spewing the hate are his party’s supporters. Shameful and inhuman,” she added.
Meanwhile, Himanshi Narwal, in her first public comments since the attack, made an emotional appeal to the nation, urging people not to direct hatred toward Muslims or Kashmiris in the aftermath of the tragedy.
“I just want the entire nation to pray for him [Vinay] that wherever he is, he is at peace. That’s the only thing I want,” she said in a statement.
“There is one more thing I want to say. There should be no hatred toward anyone. I’m seeing this happening—that people are spewing hate at Muslims or Kashmiris. We do not want this. We want peace, and only peace,” she added.
Himanshi also reiterated her call for justice, saying the perpetrators of the attack must be punished.
