Trial by Twitter

The perils of social media were starkly illustrated with Union HRD Minister Shashi Tharoor's return to Twitter on Wednesday following about a month's hiatus after his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, was found dead in mysterious circumstances in a hotel room. Tharoor signalled his return by thanking supporters and hoping his wife rested in peace. Almost immediately an anonymous tweeter responded, blaming Tharoor for what had happened. Not quite the welcome Tharoor expected, since he had hitherto enjoyed a large fan base. But as he wryly observed in reply to the tasteless tweet: "The joys of Twitter".