Dhruv Rathee’s Cryptic Post a Day After Swati Maliwal’s Allegations

Popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a cryptic message indirectly addressing recent allegations made by AAP MP Swati Maliwal. 

Fake allegations against me, daily death threats, dehumanizing insults, coordinated campaigns to defame me … I’m used to it by now.

The irony is that perpetrators are pretending to be victims. Everyone knows who is behind all this. They want to silence me.

But that’s not…

— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) May 27, 2024

Maliwal had accused Rathee of inciting threats against her following the release of his video about the alleged assault on her by Bibhav Kumar, an aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

In his post, Rathee did not directly name Maliwal but mentioned being the target of “fake allegations” and various threats aimed at silencing him. He stated, “Fake allegations against me, daily death threats, dehumanising insults, coordinated campaigns to defame me… I am used to it by now. The irony is that perpetrators are pretending to be victims. Everyone knows who is behind all this. They want to silence me.” Rathee further added, “But that’s not going to happen. If you silence 1 Dhruv Rathee, 1000 new ones will rise up.”

This development followed Maliwal’s claim on Sunday that she was receiving “rape and death threats” amid a “character assassination” campaign allegedly orchestrated by AAP leaders, which escalated after a “one-sided video” posted by Rathee. Maliwal, the former Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief, asserted that she tried reaching out to Rathee to present her side of the story but received no response to her calls and messages.

Maliwal expressed her disappointment, stating, “It is shameful that people like him, who claim to be independent journalists, could act like other AAP spokespersons and victim-shame me to the extent that I am now facing extreme abuses and threats.” She reiterated these points during a Delhi court hearing regarding the bail petition of Bibhav Kumar, stressing that the video led to her receiving numerous threats.

The court, however, denied bail to Kumar, noting that there was no “pre-meditation” by Maliwal in filing the FIR and that her allegations could not be dismissed lightly.