Days after actor Richa Chadha posted a tweet condemning the politics of Hindutva, she began to receive rape and death threats from right-wing fanatics on social media platforms.
Richa then took to Twitter to post the screenshots of the threats and wrote, “Hey tweeps! Don’t care about the targeted abuse because there’s a lot of unemployment in the country rn,if someone needs to work for ₹10 per tweet,I don’t judge them.But RAPE AND MURDER threats?Come on. (sic)”
Richa also tagged Twitter India while informing her fans about the rape and death threats she received on the social media platform.
Hey tweeps!Don’t care about the targeted abuse because there’s a lot of unemployment in the country rn,if someone needs to work for ₹10 per tweet,I don’t judge them.But RAPE AND MURDER threats?Come on @TwitterIndia @Twitter pic.twitter.com/1AS8wlUPWg
— TheRichaChadha (@RichaChadha) May 9, 2018
The Fukrey actor then said that she had received death threats because she was dating a Muslim actor Ali Fazal. Responding to a tweet posted by a Twitter user, who claimed to have married a Muslim man, Richa wrote, “Thank you for your support in favour of peace and love. Yeah basically that.”
Thank you for your support in favour of peace and love. Yeah basically that. ? https://t.co/jdh5oZBjyk
— TheRichaChadha (@RichaChadha) May 10, 2018
Reacting to Richa’s tweet, actor Pooja Bhatt asked her to report the abusive tweet of the Hindutva fanatic to Twitter. She wrote, “You must report this. Twitter needs to take responsibility for this. They cannot provide a platform to people who openly threaten to rape and maim women.”
You must report this. Twitter needs to take responsibility for this. They cannot provide a platform to people who openly threaten to rape and maim women.
— Pooja Bhatt (@PoojaB1972) May 9, 2018
Actor Swara Bhaskar too threw her support behind Richa and urged Twitter to take action against the abusive Twitter handle. She wrote, “The kind of abuse and slander @RichaChadha is facing on #Twitter amounts to harassment quite clearly.. @TwitterIndia @Twitter u wanna take some action and block these accounts that clearly violate ur community standards! Shame on this filth and u stay strong Richa!”
The kind of abuse and slander @RichaChadha is facing on #Twitter amounts to harassment quite clearly.. @TwitterIndia @Twitter u wanna take some action and block these accounts that clearly violate ur community standards! Shame on this filth and u stay strong Richa! ❤ pic.twitter.com/DfTckAE4U2
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) May 9, 2018
What was shocking was that Twitter did not detect any violation in the death and rape threats issued to Richa. When a user asked her to report the ‘specific’ tweet, she wrote, “I did. They said ‘no violation within context’.”
This appeared to irk Farhan Akhtar, who decided to slam the microblogging website adding that ‘rape and death threats cannot be allowed or go unpunished.” He wrote, “Top management at Twitter must regroup and decide what they’d like their service to be remembered for. If it’s for good, then they need to get smarter in its regulation. Rape and death threats cannot be allowed or go unpunished. @twitter @TwitterIndia.”
Top management at Twitter must regroup and decide what they’d like their service to be remembered for.
If it’s for good, then they need to get smarter in its regulation. Rape and death threats cannot be allowed or go unpunished. @twitter @TwitterIndia— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) May 10, 2018
Earlier this month, Richa had issued a ‘public interest’ notice with a call to save Hinduism from Hindutva supporters. Richa said that Hinduism faced threats from the flag-bearers of Hindutva. She is dating actor Ali Fazal, who has acted, among others, Fukrey and 3 Idiots.
