Rape jokes are never funny, right?

Nasir Jamshed's fake twitter account begs to differ, as the following tweet was published on Monday night, following Bangladesh's win against England. The account then went on to publish a few more tweets about Bangladesh, one referencing the 1971 war.

Reactions were swift — some called for the PCB and the cricket team to release an official statement about the tweet, others called on the parody account to delete the tweet and issue an apology.

Some felt that, parody account or not, the tweets were just in bad taste.

While the parody account has published biting humour before this joke, that humour was mostly directed inward — at Nasir Jamshed himself or at the Pakistani cricket team. This particular tweet about Rubel Hossain changed course, choosing to target a Bengali cricket player and the controversy he is currently mired in.

In January, a Dhaka court allowed Rubel Hossain to travel to play in the World Cup. Hossain was sent to jail after Bangladesh actress Naznin Akter Happy had filed a case of rape and 'false promise of marriage' against the cricketer, reported NDTV Sports. Rubel claimed Happy was 'blackmailing' him. Hossain is currently out on bail, and is a national hero after playing a key role in Bangladesh's defeat of England in the World Cup.

Jamshed's tweet raises questions about the degree to which comedians and 'parody accounts' should be free to use real life stories to provide content for their humour. It also raises questions about the very nature of comedy and satire. Are there some issues which should never be joked about? Is a rape case one of them? What about the 1971 war?

The parody account has touched on sensitive issues before. It frequently makes fat jokes:

And makes fun of other cricketers and famous folk:

But this series of jokes hit a nerve.

This issue has been hotly debated recently, what with Shoaib Akhtar's recent appearance on an Indian comedy show, where he made fun of the Pakistani cricket team.

Some defended his actions and pointed out that he was, after all, on a comedy show and so his comments were made in jest. Others felt he had should have put his loyalty to Pakistan and the cricket team first. Notably, Pakistani comedian Umer Sharif expressed disappointment over Shoaib's choice and said he had lost his place in the nation. Of course, Umer Sharif has enacted his fair share of satire in the past, leaving us to wonder whether Shoaib's controversy was born out of ill-placed nationalism... if he had made these jokes in Pakistan, would anyone have taken offense?

Which brings us back to the question — what's funny and what's not, and who gets to decide?

Meanwhile, people continue to get riled up over Jamshed's parody account's tweets, showing us that freedom of expression seems to be the World Cup's theme this year.