With the recent surfacing of a sexual harassment controversy around The Viral Fever (TVF) CEO Arunabh Kumar, All India Bakchod (AIB) too came under fire after a second person accused comedian Rohan Joshi of molestation. One Reddit user by the name ‘shadenfreude557’ had claimed that Rohan had attempted to forcefully kiss her and while she attempted to pull away, he groped her breast. The post was taken down within an hour but, it had already caught people’s attention.
The post drew Rohan Joshi’s attention who then denied the accusations against him. He also urged the Mumbai Police to fully investigate the case so as to prove his innocence in the case. He tweeted, “I would like to state categorically that this did not happen. I am open and willing, and even urge @MumbaiPolice to investigate this.”
Right. Several people have drawn my attention to this, so I’d like to address it in no uncertain terms https://t.co/w0sjAIgwzD
— Rohan (@mojorojo) March 14, 2017
I would like to state categorically that this did not happen. I am open and willing, and even urge @MumbaiPolice to investigate this
— Rohan (@mojorojo) March 14, 2017
I cannot & will not respond to the slurs being thrown at me for this because any defence plays into typical victim-shaming narratives
— Rohan (@mojorojo) March 14, 2017
But any competent authority who wants to investigate is welcome to, and I encourage whoever wrote that to pursue the matter earnestly.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) March 14, 2017
However, the accuser soon retracted their allegations, acknowledging their falsehood. “I am sorry for my last post. That incident never happened and @mojorojo is a great guy,” the post said. The reason behind this lie was to shed light on bogus accusations made on the internet. Given the recent controversy over the anonymous blog post by a woman who claimed to have been sexually harassed by Arunabh Kumar, the motive was to prove that such posts on the internet have little to no legitimacy.
@iAnkurSingh the accuser has retracted statement pic.twitter.com/FromYhpEx1
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 14, 2017
After finding out the truth behind the allegations, an exasperated Rohan Joshi tweeted:
Sigh. I have no idea what is going on anymore. I think I've had enough internet for the week. https://t.co/XzggjLBlqf
— Rohan (@mojorojo) March 14, 2017
However, even after the allegations were withdrawn by the accuser, some people continued to point fingers at Rohan, saying that he could just as easily have been guilty. Rohan urged people to conduct an investigation to prove his innocence.
@iAnkurSingh and @mojorojo could be just as guilty. He just played it well by encouraging investigation in his prima facie quote @Ra_Bies
— miss.ense mutation (@dr_idiopathicus) March 14, 2017
I still welcome any investigation, for the record. Feel free to expand it into an investigation on whether I threatened anyone even https://t.co/AxeKJMECTQ
— Rohan (@mojorojo) March 14, 2017
