Indian actress pretends to be dead for a Pap test campaign, and there is a social storm - Asia

model and actress

, who made it

known that she had died following uterine cancer, only to then reveal that it was a stunt as part of a campaign to raise awareness about prevention with the Pap test.

"Poonam Pandey bravely fought the disease and passed away," her announcement posted on her Instagram account said.

    The news had sparked a wave of condolences among her followers (over one million and 300 thousand), hundreds of heartfelt messages from Bollywood stars, while the entry dedicated to her on Wikipedia was also updated.

Over the weekend, Pandey turned up alive and well, and justified her choice by inviting all women to have a Pap test.

    However, social media users rebelled, with many accusing her of wanting to advertise with an "unethical" choice and of having treated death superficially.

   Uterine cancer is the second most frequent among Indians after breast cancer, and causes the death of 77,000 women every year.

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