Mumbai: After Shubham Mishra, a Gujarat resident, hurled abuses and issued rape threats to comedian Agrima in a video that went viral across social media platforms, the Vadodara police swung into action and booked him under several sections of the Indian Penal Code. On July 12, he was arrested.For the Mumbai-based comedian, currently the target of online hate and threats, the arrest of Mishra has only added to her nightmare.“I did not register a complaint. It was the police who did. But the arrest has only riled up more people and I have been receiving more death and rape threats since then,” she told The Wire.Over the past week, Joshua has been facing serious troll attacks and harassment for a stand-up routine that she performed 16 months ago at a comedy and music café in Khar in Mumbai.Nothing happened all this time — no one took any notice of her act, till suddenly, last week, a one-minute clip from the show started making the rounds. In the clip, Agrima can be seen joking about tall claims that were posted on the “knowledge-sharing” website Quora about the Devendra Fadnavis government’s project to build a Chhatrapati Shivaji statue in the Arabian Sea.In the clip, she says, “I want to know about it, want to read about it. So, I went to the most authentic source on the internet – Quora. ‘This Shivaji statue is an amazing masterstroke by our Prime Minister Modi Ji’,” Agrima says, about some of the comments that were posted on Quora. “It will have solar cells which will power all of Maharashtra…It will also have GPS tracker and it will shoot laser rays out of its eyes…” she can be seen saying in that clip. Many people found this “offensive”.But the joke was never on Shivaji, she says. “It was on the many bizarre things that people write and share on the Internet. It’s a jibe on fake news.” Nonetheless, that bit taken out of context, blown out of proportion was enough for several self-claimed “Shivaji bhakts” on the internet to bay for Agrima’s blood.This one minute-clip was just a small part of her performance that lasted close to eight minutes. She was compelled to take down the original standup routine from YouTube under pressure from the statement by Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh that the state was considering possible “legal action” against her. A Shiv Sena MLA had registered a complaint against Joshua, who begins the routine by talking about her life as an “Isai in Lucknow” or a Christian in Lucknow. Which is an “unusual combination”, she says, continuing to speak of the cultural differences among the Christians from Goa and Kerala.“Trolling isn’t new,” Agrima says, “but what was disturbing is the way the Maharashtra government has responded to it.” The first off the block was Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, who demanded “strict action” against Agrima for “insulting” the warrior king. She has since apologised online with a video, but it has made no difference to the frenzy.Deshmukh – who belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party – took to Twitter on July 11 to announce that he has ordered “strict action” against her. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s activists too wanted legal action against her.Meanwhile, several right-wing troll accounts unleashed their anger on her and demanded “revenge”, along with attacks on her Christian surname, using the slur ‘ricebag’. A few mocked the Maharashtra government for not taking swift action. She also received some support from stand-up comedians, theatre and movie celebrities. Most of them expressed outrage over the death and sexual assault threats that were unabashedly put out in the public domain and the lack of police action against those issuing threats. Since then, the Mumbai police too, have arrested one ‘Umesh Dada’ who posted a video threatening Agrima.On July 13, Deshmukh announced the arrest of another person in Maharashtra. But once again reiterated that the police would be initiating further action against Agrima.कुछ लोगों को सोशल मीडिया पर महिलाओं के बारे में आपत्तिजनक पोस्ट करने के लिए गिरफ्तार किया गया है।जांच अभी भी जारी है।अग्रिमा जोशुआ द्वारा छत्रपति शिवाजी महाराज के बारे में पहले से दिए गए बयान पर कानूनी सलाह ली जा रही है और अगर वह दोषी पायी जाती है,तो उसके खिलाफ कार्रवाई की जाएगी। pic.twitter.com/NAhB5D5FIQ— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) July 13, 2020The state’s response has only added further impetus to the ongoing threats and trolling, with more and more people joining to attack her.Since the incident, Agrima has been careful about her posts on social media. She has had to take her performance video down. Her Twitter timeline now only has several pictures of Pakistani actor-singer Fawad Khan and a YouTube link to the Pakistani metal rock band Entity Paradigm, of which Khan was once a vocalist.But why is Agrima getting abused over a sketch she performed 16 months ago? It may have a connection for standing in solidarity with another comedian Kenny Sebastian, who was being trolled and abused online, she says. When right-wing trolls and bots unleashed their rage at Sebastian and called him a “traitor” and a “ricebag”, Agrima had put out a tweet in his support. In no time, the focus had shifted and her older videos were put out and she was targeted. The video had over one million viewers 16 months ago, which increased to 2.4 million since the trolling began. The edited clip too has been circulated a lot – it led to an increase in comments, mostly abusive.The online anger had soon translated to offline action— activists who identified themselves as party members of Raj Thackeray’s MNS vandalised the premises of Habitat studio where Agrima had performed and recorded the video. “I got a call from Habitat studio informing me that vandals had landed at the studio and they were asking for my number. I was told if I don’t give a written apology, they will destroy the studio. Those men had gone there looking for me,” she says.Others claiming to be political activists also demanded that Agrima meet them in person and apologise to them. In the apology video, Joshua says, the area she is currently living in is a containment zone and stepping out is not an option.मेरी क्षमायाचना स्वीकार करे,Please accept my humble apology,@cmoMaharashtra @authackrey@anildeshmukhncp@nitinraut@RajThackrey pic.twitter.com/uHBZMBPOfB— Agrima Joshua 🇮🇳 (@Agrimonious) July 11, 2020Besides Sebastian and Agrima, two other comedians – Munawar Faruqui and Mohammed Sohail – were abused and attacked too. On July 14, the trolls had found another victim in comedian Aadar Malik for poking fun at people mindlessly dancing at Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations.The targeting seems very pointed. Agrima says, “The comedy scene in the country is such that an impression is built by looking at your name, who you are, and what dialect you speak, who is the information coming from.”In a statement to comedy news website DeadAnt, Agrima stated: “I’ve chosen to do what’s best for the comedy community at large. My silence and restraint on this matter is in solidarity with every creator and artist. For me, right now, the spaces and establishments that promote them are a priority. We are all responsible for each other. And it’s only united us more.”