UP: YouTuber questions CM Yogi Adityanath's minister about her unfulfilled promises, held

UP police arrested a 25-year-old YouTube video producer from the Sambhal district on Monday after he openly questioned Gulabo Devi, a minister in the Yogi government, about her "unfulfilled pre-poll promises of development works" in her assembly constituency, during a local event. Shrish Chandra, an additional SP (Sambhal), told to TOI on Tuesday."The YouTuber, Sanjay Rana, was arrested and later produced in the court of SDM, Chandausi, which granted him bail. Besides the FIR, he was also challaned under section 151 (likely to disturb public peace) of IPC. The case against him is being investigated in detail and all the rules are being followed."

Rana, a resident of Budh Nagar Khandwa in Chandausi, where the minister was elected in the UP elections in 2022, was detained as a result of a FIR filed by a local member of the BJP's youth wing. Rana frequently addresses local municipal concerns via his YouTube channel.

Charged under IPC section 323, 504, 506

He was then charged under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation). Shubham Raghav, the complainant and BJP member, told TOI: "The minister was at an inauguration ceremony. The man was asking questions and invading the privacy of the minister. When I stopped him, he caught me by my collar, slapped and abused me and then fled from the venue." Earlier in a viral video, Gulabo Devi, the minister of state (independent charge) of secondary education who was at the Budh Nagar Khandwa event on March 11, can be purportedly seen being questioned by Rana about some of her "pre-poll promises".

Questioned about poll promises

In one of the clips, Rana is heard saying, "During elections you said that you've adopted this village to ensure all developmental works will be implemented here in a time-bound manner... You never returned to this village after winning the election. The road that you promised is not yet laid. The basic issues, like the boundary wall of our village temple, toilets under the government scheme and a community centre, are still pending."

Vimlesh Kumari, politician and advocate said, "This case is a perfect example of grave violation of human rights. The YouTuber had only asked questions related to development works and it was all recorded in the video. But, he was framed in a fake case of thrashing a BJP member and kept in a police lock-up at night. No guidelines were followed in this case."

Ex-CM of UP, Akhilesh Yadav, tweeted: "The police act clearly indicates the prevailing undeclared emergency in the state."