21 August,2026 10:24 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Shweta Tiwari. Pic via Instagram
TV actor Shweta Tiwari, who is currently seen in the second season of The Traitors, has been in the news for quite some time now. Earlier, on Thursday morning, Shweta uploaded a video tagging FDA head Tukaram Mundhe, complaining that she found a cockroach in her online order when she ordered cold drinks. Now, she has taken to social media to slam trolls, revealing that she has been receiving online abuse on social media. She also questioned Raj Thackeray over the behaviour of his supporters.
Taking to Instagram Stories, Shweta penned a series of long messages. She started her note saying, "Today I want to talk about something that is both deeply concerning and unfortunately very common on social media: calling a woman: r''''. Any woman. Of any age. From any profession. Any man from any background can come online and call a woman r''''. And what shocks me is that these men are not necessarily uneducated or from troubled backgrounds. Many of them are educated, seemingly come from respectable families, have wives, mothers, daughters and sisters. And yet feel completely comfortable using the most degrading word they can think of for another woman."
She further shared screenshots of the users' profiles who had targeted her with abusive messages.
She further questioned Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, alleging that the abusers were his supporters, saying, "And I thought how do you go home to that family after speaking to another woman like this? Apparently he is also a supporter of Raj Thackeray or his party. And that brings me to something very personal. I have lived in Maharashtra all my life. My father was brought up in Mumbai. All my life I have grown up seeing the pride and dignity attached to being a Marathi maanus⦠I grew up believing that Marathi culture respected women, their strength and their dignity."
She added, "So when I see people who proudly identify as Marathi maanus coming into women's DMs and calling them r'''', I genuinely have to ask: Is this what being a Marathi maanus has come to mean? Raj Thackeray, if people like this are your supporters, then I would genuinely like to know, do you believe this is acceptable behaviour? Because speaking Marathi, calling yourself a Marathi manus or claiming to love Maharashtra is not enough," she wrote.
Shweta, who has also been in the news over her personal life lately, went on to conclude, "Because a woman doesn't lose her dignity just because you don't know her. And she certainly doesn't deserve to be called r'''' simply becaue you disagree with her, dislike her or feel entitled to abuse her. Respect women not only the women you love but women. Period."
