New Delhi: The Vadodara police have booked a man for issuing rape threats to comedian Agrima Joshua, who has been targeted for a joke on the naivety of supporters of the government’s proposed Shivaji statue. The police have booked Shubham Mishra under various sections of the IPC, including criminal intimidation and obscenity.
#Breaking: Vadodara police books Shubham Mishra under IPC sections 294 (obscenity), 354 (A), 504 (intentionally insults to break public peace) 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (intending to insult modesty of a woman) @IndianExpress
— Aditi Raja (@aditijf) July 12, 2020
The Vadodara police subsequently posted photographs of the man who they said had been detained:
Vadodara City Police took suo moto action in respect of an abusive, threatening video which was uploaded and shared on Social media by Shubham Mishra.
We have detained him and initiated legal process for registration of FIR against him under relevent section of IPC and IT act. pic.twitter.com/XM6J8y4nDx
— Vadodara City Police (@Vadcitypolice) July 12, 2020
The Mumbai-based stand-up comedian was on Saturday forced to apologise for a joke that was made more than a year ago in which she spoofed the naivety of commenters on the site Quora making outlandish claims about the proposed Shivaji statue being planned off the coast of Mumbai.
Joshua is facing a barrage of claims that she allegedly ‘insulted’ the medieval warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji. A clip of her comic act from 2019 was circulated on social media recently, leading to rape and death threats against her by trolls and, incredibly, a call by the Maharashtra home minister for police action to be taken against her.
In the clip, Joshua made no comment at all on Shivaji and merely joked about gullible opinions that some Quora users held about the Maharashtra government’s plan to build the statue in the Arabian Sea, including the claim that it would shoot lasers beams on Pakistani infiltrators and power the state using solar cell technology.
We live in a disgusting country. This lukewarm take down of quora users is now a reason to send her graphic rape threats, demand her arrest and go vandalise the venue. Criminal morally corrupt and dangerous af losers. https://t.co/gmCFf55FTZ
— Edgar Allan Poeha (@vaniIlaessence) July 11, 2020
According to the Indian Express, the video was part of a sketch Joshua had performed in April 2019 at a cafe in Khar (West). Scroll reported that angry social media users shared details of the cafe’s employees, while activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena allegedly barged into the cafe and damaged some property.
Maharashtra’s home minister Anil Deshmukh said he has asked the police to take legal action against the comedian. “I have instructed CP [Commissioner of Police] Mumbai and IG [Inspector General] Cyber to take legal action expeditiously,” he tweeted. “I urge everyone to maintain calm and law will take its course.”
Several other politicians have also demanded action against the comedian.
In a video posted on Twitter, Joshua apologised to anyone she may have offended.
मेरी क्षमायाचना स्वीकार करे,
Please accept my humble apology,@cmoMaharashtra @authackrey@anildeshmukhncp@nitinraut@RajThackrey pic.twitter.com/uHBZMBPOfB— Agrima Joshua 🇮🇳 (@Agrimonious) July 11, 2020
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken cognizance of the threats that Joshua received and sought immediate action from the Gujarat police against a man who hurled abuses and issued a rape threats to the stand-up comedian.
“The NCW is committed to creating safe online space for women and ensuring cybersecurity to women and is perturbed by the rise in use of cyberspace to instigate crime against women,” NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said in the letter sent late Saturday night.
In a letter to Gujarat Director General of Police Shivanand Jha, the NCW said it has been tagged in a video posted on Twitter in which the man can be seen hurling abuses and giving rape threats to the woman.
Actors Swara Bhasker and Kusha Kapila, comedian Sumukhi Suresh and several others have expressed support to Joshua and denounced the threats directed at her.
(With agency inputs)
