A Twitter user had said he would rape Ms Chaturvedi's 10-year-old daughter.
A man who allegedly threatened Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi on twitter with the rape of her daughter, has been arrested after Union home minister Rajnath Singh intervened in the case. The man, identified as Girish Maheshwari, was arrested from Ahmedabad and will be produced at a court in Mumbai today.
"They attack women who have a different opinion. Would want the government to come down heavily on such people," said Ms Chaturvedi after the arrest, underscoring the need for sending a strong message.
Ms Chaturvedi told NDTV that she had to face a stream of abuses on Twitter after a fake quote on the recent gang-rape of a seven-year-old in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur was attributed to her. One of them was a tweet from the handle @GirishK1605 that threatened Ms Chaturvedi's 10-year-old daughter.
Livid, the 38-year-old leader lodged a formal complaint with the police. In her complaint, the Congress spokesperson mentioned that the troll, despite using an image of Lord Ram in his profile picture, didn't think twice before making such a threat.
On Twitter, many called for exemplary punishment. Others cited the case of foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, who is being relentlessly trolled on Twitter after her ministry helped an inter-faith couple get their passport and cracked down on the officer who had harassed them. So far, very few leaders of the BJP have spoken up on her behalf.
Ms Chaturvedi's party, the Congress, has said the foreign minister has become victim of the "Frankenstein's Monster" the BJP has created.
In a tweet, Congress leader Ahmed Patel said, "Online harassment & abuse being faced by @SushmaSwaraj ji, @priyankac19 & several other women is a matter of national shame If the government cannot defend its own ministers, imagine the fate of ordinary people?"
Ms Chaturvedi tweeted: "I would like to thank @MumbaiPolice , @DelhiPolice , especially @IPSMadhurVerma and @CPDelhi . Also my gratitude to @HMOIndia & @rajnathsingh ji for taking this up."