Cong spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi calls for 'digital tolerance'

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi, who was recently the target of vicious threats on social media, today called for "digital tolerance".

She also noted that very few BJP leaders expressed solidarity with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who was abused on Twitter for helping an inter-faith couple in a passport-related row.

"These (users of social) media... are behaving in a way that is putting democracy in danger. The easiest method is to character-assassinate the woman, abuse her, threaten her, so that she is scared and thinks why should I waste my time (engaging with people) when I have to face abuse," Chaturvedi said.

Rape threats and abuse, which family members of those who voice different opinions face, were "deplorable", Chaturvedi said, citing the recent instance when a Twitter user threatened to rape her 10-year-old daughter.

Chaturvedi filed a complaint against the account and subsequently, an Ahmedabad-based man was arrested.

"The medium to make people engage with democracy is now disengaging people," she said, adding that dragging somebody's family while attacking his or her opinions, using uncivilised language and threatening their children was "highly deplorable."