Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police after a Twitter user threatened to rape her minor daughter in a tweet on Sunday night, NDTV reported. The threat drew outrage from Twitter users and was taken down later. The incident follows abusive messages sent to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Twitter recently.

On Twitter, Chaturvedi said that despite having an image of Lord Ram as a profile picture, the user @GirishK1605 had not hesitated to use such foul language. She tagged the Mumbai Police in her tweet and said that she hoped the police will take action.

“They have called me and have initiated action,” Chaturvedi tweeted.

Chaturvedi said she became the target of online harassment after a quote falsely attributed to her in connection with the recent gangrape of an eight-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district was shared on social media. “The quote on Facebook showed that I was supporting the accused,” she told NDTV. “This went viral on various social media platforms.”

Sushma Swaraj trolling

Several Twitter users have linked the practice of abusive trolling on social media with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – including the abuse against Swaraj, apparently for “appeasing” Muslims.

A Twitter poll started by Sushma Swaraj, asking whether users approve of such tweets, has got as many as 43% votes saying they do.