Navi Mumbai: A YouTuber has been booked by the Koparkhairane police under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after his video allegedly insulting the Dalit community and Babasaheb Ambedkar surfaced.
The 90-second video allegedly contains casteist slurs and justifies the inhumane treatment of the Dalit community and the practice of untouchability. The complaint was filed by Ghansoli resident Vikrant Chikane, 33, against the content creator, Om Yadav, whose channel has 1,89,000 subscribers.
First surfacing on YouTube, the video was circulated via WhatsApp as well. Chikane said he received the video from his advocate friend, Swapnil Jagtap, 31. In the video, Yadav also claims to have no fear of legal consequences and challenges the legal system.
The case has been registered under sections 3(1) (R), (S),(U), (V) (intention to humiliate SC/ST in public view, promoting hatred for the community, disrespecting a person of high esteem from the community) of the Atrocities Act. Additional sections have been applied under the Protection of Civil Rights Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
As cases under the Atrocity Act come under the purview of special court, it is investigated by an Assistant Commissioner level officer. This case will be probed by Additional Commissioner of Police (Vashi) Yogesh Gawade. “We will direct YouTube to take down the video. We are yet to trace the content creator,” Gawade said.
