Sumukhi Suresh condemns online abuse against female comics: 'You won't be allowed to think you can violate our bodies'

Two days after comedian Agrima Joshua received continued rape threats after an old video of her act containing a joke about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj resurfaced on social media, fellow comic Sumukhi Suresh took to Twitter, lambasting online abuse against women, especially those working in the field of entertainment.

Sumukhi wrote that the silence of a person does not equate weakness and in no way should invite dangerous threats. "We seem quiet because we are working hard to make a mark in our field and we don't want anything stopping us," she added. Apart from Suresh, several artists within the entertainment fraternity have condemned the abuse being directed at Joshua for making an allegedly hurtful joke about a Shivaji Maharaj statue set to be erected in the Arabian Sea, and the reactions to the development on the question-and-answer forum, Quora. Apart from the despicable threats issued to Joshua, the Mumbai venue where the set was originally performed and recorded, The Habitat, was vandalised by miscreants in protest. Soon after a video of a man threatening Joshua began circulating online, the National Commission for Women took cognizance and wrote to Gujarat Police, calling for immediate action.

Additionally, Joshua's resurfaced video prompted Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik to write to Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, demanding Joshua's arrest. "Some comedian named Agrima Joshua has made contemptuous comments against Shivaji Maharaj while presenting her comedy. I saw the video and I feel she doesn't have respect for Shivaji Maharaj or she doesn't know about him," he wrote on Twitter.

On 10 July, Joshua posted an apology for "having hurt the sentiments of the great leader Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj".