New Delhi: The Punjab Police arrested a Delhi-based YouTube content creator from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh on the charges of hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity between religious groups.
Rachit Kaushik was picked up Tuesday late evening by the Ludhiana police, who have turned down the claim of ‘kidnapping’ made on his Instagram and X accounts as well as those of his followers.
“After registering the FIR in the case, we arrested this content creator after securing a warrant from court and after informing the local police in Muzaffarnagar,” Ludhiana Commissioner Kuldeep S. Chahal told ThePrint.
An FIR was lodged against unidentified persons on 17 January under Sections 295 A (deliberately outraging the religious feelings), 153 (Intended provocation that may lead to rioting), 153 A (promoting enmity between groups on the basis of religion, caste and race), 504 (Insulting intentionally to provoke) of the IPC and Section 67 of the IT Act that deals with publishing of information which is obscene in electronic form.
ThePrint has a copy of the FIR.
The FIR was filed on the basis of a complaint by a pastor of a church at Piru Banda area of Ludhiana city in which he alleged that a X account “@noconversion” made insulting comments against the Christian community and also targeted the religious youth of the community.
The pastor also gave links of related content for which he was filing a complaint and the Punjab Police registered the FIR against unknown individuals following which, sources in Ludhiana Police said, that they zeroed in on Kaushik and found out his location.
Police officers in Ludhiana told ThePrint that after a complaint was received, Kaushik’s social media posts were scanned thoroughly following which they approached a court for his arrest warrant.
“He has made several communally insensitive remarks in his social media videos and we have also written to social media companies seeking ban on his account,” a source in Ludhiana Police told ThePrint.
The sources in the Ludhiana Police told ThePrint that Kaushik’s social media account has faced suspension from other state police but they refused to specify the details of those instances.
Meanwhile, a public account on X claimed political conspiracy and kidnapping of Kaushik while the Instagram post by the same account alleged that Punjab Police picked up Kaushik as he had presented some facts related to the Punjab government and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s family. Following these allegations, the police came out on record to deny these allegations being circulated on social media.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Parties in MP want a piece of Baghelkhand influencers. Reels are the new political manifestos