Vivek Agnihotri was forced to take down an abusive tweet against actor Swara Bhasker on Monday after microblogging site Twitter locked the filmmaker's account for violating its rules. Bhasker had slammed Kerala MLA PC George for making objectionable remarks against the nun demanding the arrest of a bishop who allegedly raped her.
"Absolutely shameful and disgusting!!!! Scum present across political spectrums and religious divides in India. Literally nauseating!," the actor tweeted with respect to George's statement. Agnihotri replied, in a reference to the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault, "Where is the placard - #MeTooProstituteNun"
Bhasker called out the director for using the trauma of women who are rape survivors to slut shame and abuse in public a woman you don't like. "In the rare moments of sanity that may visit your brain - otherwise unhinged with hate - think about how low that is #scum," her tweet continued.
She also notified Twitter authorities against the abusive post and the microblogging site acknowledged her complaint through a message."... We have reviewed the account you reported and have locked it because we found it to be in violation of the Twitter rules. If the account owner complies with our requested actions and stated policies, the account will be unlocked," the message from Twitter read.
Bhasker thanked Twitter and urged people not to allow bullies to shame them. "Thank you @TwitterIndia @TwitterSupport for taking cognisance of @vivekagnihotri's abusive tweet. And making him delete it! No tolerance for cyber bullying and abuse of women on public platforms! (Or private - but one thing at a time) Thank you #SayNoToBullying Girls (and boys and everyone) DO NOT allow cyber bullies and haters to shame you or humiliate you on public platforms! Resist, challenge and call out bullies and misogynists. Thank you @TwitterIndia @Twitter @TwitterSupport. You just made the virtual public sphere a little bit better,"she wrote alongside the screenshot of the now-deleted tweet by Agnihotri.
Earlier too, Vivek had taken a jibe at Swara after she wrote an open-letter to 'Padmaavat' director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Agnihotri had taken to Twitter to slam the actress and wrote, 'We have interviewed many 'ex-Naxal' women in Bastar. Each has gut-wrenching stories to tell, full of abuse, rape and misogyny. If they marry, they aren't allowed to have children. I think fake feminist @ReallySwara must make a trip to understand how the Real Vagina feels like. What women need to understand that it's because of the fake feminists like @ReallySwara that the feminist movement gets jeopardised. You just can't piss off people and win the most critical war of modern times ' the gender empathy'.
