“Agrima Joshua Does Not Deserve This Hate And Aggression”

We all are well aware of where India stands as a country when it comes to women’s safety. Cromes against women range from age-old practices like dowry or modern-day abuse and trolling over the internet. Incidences of cyberbullying and threats over digital media have increased lately.

Recently, someone by the handle ‘Badass Shubham’ posted a video on Instagram threatening comedian Agrima Joshua for an alleged remark on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in a stand-up act video released in April 2019. This controversy also blew up when the venue of her stand-up act was vandalized. The strangeness is that the video caught attention a year later. If any content was really outrageous, I feel the content would’ve been taken down in the initial months of posting it.

She was forced to apologize to anyone whose sentiments related to the Indian warrior-king were hurt. Ramesh Solanki, who reportedly was the first person to express rage over her video sought her arrest.

Agrima Joshua was subject to brutal, descriptive rape threat by Shubham Mishra (Badass Shubham). The user has made his account private as of now but the video can be seen on other platforms like YouTube. At a time when people are finding the time to continue their hobbies, there exists a bunch of people spreading hate and throwing threats online. What is more horrifying is the fact that they get validation and boost from other content consumers who they like to call their ‘fans.’

If ‘so-called’ content creators will keep on abusing in the name of the content and continue making threats, where will the world stand?

The video of the stand-up routine has been doing rounds for over a year but caught attention on July 9, 2020, when Ramesh Solakni tweeted about it. Twitter is now filled with tonnes of tweets in the name of Agrima and Shubham. Even the Shiv Sena officials have demanded her apology, which they later received on Twitter. She even tweeted to Aditya Thackrey mentioning that BJP IT cell is storming her online, and the administrators should look into the matter.

No matter how offensive a joke gets, no human should hold a position to attack a person, whether online or offline. A comic was doing her job, and even if didn’t make sense like Hindustani Bhau, CarryMinati, Elvish Yadav, and others, she did not deserve this hate and aggression.

Moreover, a communal comment was also thrown at her by Ravi Rai, an author of the recently published book ‘THE TATTOO ON MY BREAST’ by Bloomsbury. He accused Agrima of not bashing other religions, and asked why shouldn’t ‘the Hindus stand up when they’re attacked.’

Previously, other comedians who’ve been a part of honest political satires and comedies have also been threatened. Artists like Kunal Kamra, Sanjay Rajoura, Surleen Kaur have been the victim of outrage by political parties and their followers.

My question remains, till when we will accept the ‘rowdy type’ of content? Somewhere or the other, we have all enjoyed memes on them, used phrases made by them, and normalized the culture of using abusive language. We need to change this dynamic and stop these bunch of douchebags from becoming ‘influencers’ of people who aren’t aware of what’s right and wrong.

Also, I wonder, why wasn’t the same outrage there when CarryMinati, a male YouTube comedian bashed the whole LGBTQ+ community and subjugated people over using an app?

Update: The online abuser Shubham Mishra has been arrested and an FIR has been filed against him.