'Makkal Selvan' Vijay Sethupathi announced his decision on Monday to step down from acting in the Muttiah Muralitharan biopic, 800, based on a request by the former Sri Lankan cricketer after several personalities and the public opposed his participation in the film. Hours after Vijay Sethupathi's decision, a Twitter user (Handle: @ItsRithikRajh) issued rape threats against the actor's minor daughter. Soon after the rape threat, several social media users including personalities from various fields vehemently lashed out against the Twitter user for his crass language and demanded the individual be arrested for his violent statements against a child. The Twitter user had tweeted pictures of Vijay Sethupathi and his underage daughter and advocated that she should be assaulted sexually so that "her father would understand the difficult lives led by Tamils in Sri Lanka."

Several social media users shared the tweet demanding for the individual to be imprisoned, including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Women's wing secretary and Member of Parliament Kanimozhi, who tweeted, "The perverse intimidation of Vijay Sethupathi's #daughter is not only barbaric but extremely dangerous to the very fabric of our society. Making women and children the soft targets is a cowardly act. The police should take stern action against the perpetrator. #VijaySethupathi". 

Likewise, DMK MP S Senthil Kumar too tweeted saying, "Are they human beings? Kindly track this person and put him behind bars,". In his tweet, he tagged the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (CMO) and the Chennai Police’s official Twitter handles. 

An angry singer Chinmayi too expressed her anger and condemned the Twitter user on her page. She wrote, "A Tamil man recording his difference of opinion. This is why many in this society stand in support of the predators. Is nobody in this system going to change this? A man who can say in public about raping a child is a criminal,", while tagging the official Twitter handles of Chennai Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Adyar in her tweet. She raised the question of why the society chooses to remain silent when such highly negative statements are made. "Why does this crappy society do this? Watch silently when this happens? How are men raised to speak out a rape threat? Why is it when adults fight like hyenas, the women and children have to suffer? Shame on all of you who do it and those who watch and remain silent," she tweeted.

 

A quick glance at the tweets posted by the said Twitter user showed that the individual is a habitual offender who has issued rape threats to many women on the social networking platform. The Twitter user had also made offensive sexual comments against actor Anushka Sharma earlier. On Monday, the Twitter user had issued a rape threat to actor Kasturi Shankar after she condemned the tweet against Vijay Sethupathi's daughter. The said Twitter handle has since been restricted by the platform after users reported his tweets, who have called for the person's arrest. 

Vijay Sethupathi had tweeted Muttiah Muralitharan's letter requesting him to not be a part of 800 and wrote the words, "Thank you.... Goodbye." The film came under severe fire after several people, including six-time National Award-winning director Bharathiraja requested the actor to withdraw from acting in the project alleging that the cricketer was a supporter of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka. The hashtag #ShameonVijaySethupathi began trending on social media after the first look and motion poster for 800 was released, with fans asking the actor to step away from the film.