YouTuber uploads mock video on Nupur Sharma, arrested

Srinagar, June 11

Kashmir-based YouTuber Faisal Wani was arrested today for uploading a mock video wherein he was seen enacting the beheading of now suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Wani was arrested hours after he deleted the video on his YouTube channel and issued an apology.

Issues apology

In another video, Faisal Wani issued an apology. He has deleted the video in which he was seen beheading a photo of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma.

Advertisement

A case has been registered under Sections 505 (public mischief) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at the Safa Kadal police station in Srinagar.

“I apologise if I have hurt the sentiments of anyone,” he said in another video. Wani said he was jobless after he lost out to competition in the garment business due to the boom in e-commerce, forcing him to launch a YouTube channel.

Describing himself as a simple person, Wani expressed hope that the second video would also go viral “so that my apology reaches everyone”. “I am an innocent person and do not want to be implicated,” he said.

Wani’s now-deleted video posted on his channel showed the bare-bodied YouTuber wielding a sword and beheading a photo of Sharma. Sharma was suspended by the BJP while another leader, Naveen Jindal, was expelled over their controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad.

The comments led to an intense backlash in several Islamic countries and calls for a boycott of Indian products. There have been protests in several Indian cities as well, while multiple FIRs have been registered against Sharma.