Social media user Madhur Singh, popularly known as ThePlacardGuy has expressed concern that the lack of action of National Commission for Women against comedian Kenny Sebastian for obscene comments against his mother. “I was attacked because I am a Dalit,” he said.
Singh says that while he has received death threats for raising his voice in the past, that didn’t scare him much. However, the obscenity hurled towards his mother distressed him. Speaking to OpIndia, he said, “My mother had no involvement in the twitter spat between Kenny and I, but yet he abused her and almost made remarks which in some way means that he’s raping her. This thought has put me in immense mental distress. Shubham Mishra and Imtiyaz made videos saying similar things for Agrima Joshua and they were arrested the very next day but no action against Kenny makes me lose my faith in the system.”
After an online spat between Singh and Sebastian early this month, Kenny went on to post obscene and abusive comments on photo-sharing app Instagram. In some of the comments on a post, Sebastian can be seen hurling abuses like ‘teri maa r*ndi’ and other such obscenities.
In his defence, Sebastian took to Twitter to claim that the screenshots making rounds on social media are ‘fake’. He claimed that the abuses posted from his account were ‘manipulated’ as he reported an account of someone who he claims was ‘abusing his religion’. He claimed he will approach Mumbai Police to investigate the ‘fake messages’. However, later netizens shared videos of his profile wherein it can be seen that the comments from his account were not fabricated. Later, on 9th July, the NCW took cognisance of the obscene messages and asked for probe.
@NCWIndia has been tagged in posts with snippets of misogynistic comments made by stand-up comedian @knowkenny. We've also observed his statement claiming them to be fake. Our Chairperson @sharmarekha has written to @DGPMaharashtra for immediate investigation in the case
— NCW (@NCWIndia) July 9, 2020
“NCW had urged the Maharashtra DGP to take action against Sebastian, but nothing has been done so far. This weakens my faith in the judicial system,” Singh said.
This is not the first time Madhur Singh has been on the receiving end of hate and abuses. Earlier this year, he was threatened with Kamlesh Tiwari-like fate for his Instagram stories on Islamic fundamentalists. Kamlesh Tiwari was an outspoken Hindu Activist who was brutally murdered by Jihadists for blaspheming against Islam. He was stabbed 15 times. The post-mortem report suggested that there were two deep cut marks on the neck which pointed towards attempts to slit his throat. These threats and abuses were directed not only towards Madhur himself but also for the women in his family. Some of the abuses appeared to come from ostensibly fake accounts with no followers or posts.
