The current Miss England has caused controversy among beauty queens after stating that humans deserve to get coronavirus because of ‘evil inside us’.
Bhasha Mukherjee, 24, who is also a doctor for the NHS at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, posted the comments to Facebook two weeks ago with two former Miss England’s taking offence.
Miss Mukherjee, posting in response to the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala, India, who died after eating a pineapple filled with firecrackers, said: ‘When you guys were crying and upset why corona happened to us?!
Bhasha Mukherjee, 24, who is also a doctor for the NHS at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, posted the comments to Facebook two weeks ago
‘This is why! How dare we humans even walk this earth with the evil inside us.
‘We deserve corona. We deserve worse.’
Miss Mukherjee had been praised for flying back to the UK from India to help the NHS battle coronavirus in March, but she has since been forced to apologise for her controversial comments.
Katrina Hodge, 33, and Alisha Cowie, 20, both former Miss England in 2009 and 2018 respectively, publicly responded to Miss Mukherjee’s comments.
Miss Hodge posted: ‘Yes this is disgusting and should be highlighted and campaigned against.
‘But are you seriously suggesting that the world requires a blanket punishment because of this?!?
‘Deserved Corona – young children have died! Nearly 50,000 in the UK and you are saying we deserved it for this?!?’
Katrina Hodge, 33, and Alisha Cowie, 20, (pictured) both former Miss England in 2009 and 2018 respectively, publicly responded to Miss Mukherjee’s comments
Miss Mukherjee quickly apologised for her comments but then deleted the post along with her apology two days later.
The doctor’s mother alleged that Miss Cowie, who branded the NHS worker’s message ‘disgusting’, was jealous of her fame and had made a video branding her a cyber-bully.
Both Miss Cowie and Miss Hodge say they have been threatened with a civil order by Bhasha’s solicitor and reported to the police.
Miss Hodge, who lives in Brighton and is a mother-of-two, also claims she was forced to take the day off work after receiving a warning from Miss England director Angie Beasley.
In the email, the director claimed: ‘I wanted to let you know that the persistent remarks that you and others have posted across social media are being used as evidence for bullying and harassment.
‘I am sure that I do not need to remind you, Miss World and Miss England most important ethic is to care and support others.’
Miss Hodge, (pictured) who lives in Brighton and is a mother-of-two, also claims she was forced to take the day off work after receiving a warning from Miss England director Angie Beasley
Miss Hodge said: ‘I woke up with an email of lies. Miss England felt like Basha was being cyber bullied and harassed by us. I couldn’t concentrate on anything.
‘Before this incident, I’ve never even spoken to her before. I was just offering advice.
‘They were apparently going to go to the police and it left me feeling like I had a dark cloud over my head.
‘I now feel like they’re trying to intimidate me so this issue about coronavirus is deflected.
‘I believe Angie has a vendetta against me and that’s why my name has been dragged into this. I wish for the bullying to stop please!’
The former crown said the ordeal had moved her close to tears – after previously speaking about her sexist abuse of being called Combat Barbie in the Army.
She added: ‘I suddenly went into a panic and overdrive. For 12 years I’ve been cyber-bullied.
‘To be accused of something which I’ve previously been a victim of completely broke my heart.
‘In the past, people have said that if they saw my face, they’d smash it in and I was called a b**ch.
‘Angie knows what I’ve been through and supported me through it. My head was spinning and I felt like I was being spun in the washing machine when she tried to ring me.
‘I’ve been so stressed that my name’s going to be dragged through the mud.’
And while Miss Hodge was told that she wasn’t required at Sussex Police Station despite Miss Mukherjee’s police report, a solicitor’s email landed in her inbox.
Miss Cowie was also contacted by Quality Solicitors Burton & Co, who stated that the pair had incited ‘untruthful, racist and hurtful comments resulting in harassment’ – causing Miss Mukherjee to ‘suffer extreme anxiety and distress’.
‘In order to bring the matter to an end and to prevent a civil action being taken against you, Dr Bhasha Mukherjee is requesting that you use the same social platform to post a public apology for the distress and anxiety she has been made to suffer,’ it read.
Rachael O’Sullivan, of Quality Solicitors, has urged the pageant beauties to respond within seven days before legal action is taken for damages.
And the former models suggested that this incident is just one of many cases – where Miss England stars are ‘too intimidated’ to speak up.
‘I already left the competition because I decided that it didn’t align with my morals. I walked away after 12 years’, Miss Hodge divulged.
‘They were happy to promote me as a former soldier who fought in Iraq, it added credibility to their competition, and as an organisation they’ve said nothing.
‘If she doesn’t speak up about it, nobody will.
‘A comment condoning corona, whether it’s said in anger or not, is quite insensitive.
‘Basha is doing an amazing job, as well as all NHS workers, but I was also very conscious that I wasn’t just representing Miss England as a brand, but the British Army.
‘I thought she would’ve said that she was hacked or another genuine excuse, but what came next was bizarre. She suggested that her mum had posted it on her profile.’
Angie Beasley has been approached for comment.