YouTubers detained, stripped in MP's Sidhi for 'criticising' BJP MLA

In a shocking incident in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district, independent journalists and YouTubers were detained and stripped half-naked for allegedly publishing a news report against BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla.

One of the arrested men has been identified as Kanishk Tiwari, who runs a YouTube channel called mpsandeshnews24, which has over 170K subscribers.

A post on social media where some men are partially clothed is going viral.

ये मध्य प्रदेश के सीधी ज़िले के YouTubers हैं पता नहीं कौन सा अपराध है इनका लेकिन कोई भी अपराध इतना गंभीर नहीं हो सकता इनके द्वारा की थाने में इन्हें ऐसे खड़ा कर दिया जाय ये human rights और human dignity का खुला मज़ाक है कोई गलत है या आरोपी है तो भी ऐसा नहीं होना चाहिए pic.twitter.com/ZXKqrdv8Nv

— Ritesh Mishra (@riteshmishraht) April 7, 2022

ASP (Sidhi) Anjulata Patle told India Today/Aaj Tak reporter Hariom Sharma that the detentions were made on the complaint of Gurudutt Shukla, the son of BJP Sidhi MLA Kedarnath Shukla. According to Patle, Gurudutt Shukla was getting abusive messages from a Facebook account.

"The MLA's son was being harassed by a fake Facebook account. During the investigation, theatre artist Neeraj Kunder was arrested. After this, journalist Kanishk Tiwari and other theatre artists started demonstrating. They were arrested under Section 151. On the directions of the SP, DSP headquarters has been asked to look into the matter,” said ASP Patle.

After Neeraj Kunder's arrest, Indravati Natya Samiti members, along with local journalist/YouTuber Kanishk Tiwari staged a protest, where they started chanting slogans against the BJP and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Police arrested them under section 151 of the IPC, said ASP Patle.