On February 2, the lawyer of social media influencer Vikar Fhathak alias Hindustani Bhau, said in a statement that his client has tendered an unconditional apology in court for allegedly instigating students to do riots. Hindustani Bhau was arrested by Dharavi Police under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, Maharashtra Police Act, Disaster Management Act and Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act.
Mahesh Mulya, Hindustani Bhau’s advocate, said the cause was right, but it was misused and turned into a riot. He further assured his client would cooperate with the Police. The court has sent Bhau to Police custody till February 4.
ANI quoted Mulya saying, “We have tendered an unconditional apology in court. Our cause was right, we had come to support the students. Unfortunately, it was misused, and it turned into a riot. We will cooperate in the police investigation.”
Hindustani Bhau was arrested on Tuesday
On January 31, Hindustani Bhau and others were arrested by the Police for instigating students of class 10 and class 12 to protest as the government was planning to conduct offline exams for these classes. His call for a protest led to a large gathering in Dharavi and other parts of the state. Bhau was present at the Dharavi protest site. The students had gathered outside Varsha Gaikwad, State Education Minister’s house. In Nagpur, the protesting students vandalized public property, including two buses.
After this, aA case was registered against him and another person at Dharavi police station under various Indian Penal Code sections, including for unlawful assembly, rioting, abetting an offence, and negligent/malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. They were also booked under relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act, the Disaster Management Act and the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Public Property Act.
Hindustani Bhau had called for the protest
On January 24, social media influencer Hindustani Bhau had uploaded a video on his YouTube channel in which he had called for the protest. He said, “People have died because of Covid in last two years. Now the new drama of Omicron has begun. The government is asking people to stay inside. Why are they taking offline exams? Cancel the exams. Do not play with the lives of the students else, there will be a protest.”
In another video on Instagram, Bhau urged state education minister Varsha Gaikwad not to play with the lives of the students amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. He also urged the students to come out and protest on the roads. Following his video, thousands of students across cities in Maharashtra came out and started protesting. Hindustani Bhau himself had talked about protesting outside the education minister’s house along with lakhs of students.