Kerala police arrested YouTuber Badusha Jamal (32) for trying to destroy communal harmony using social media. Jamal made a video that contained provocative remarks against the police following an assault case that happened at Neyyatinkara.
Police Inspector V N Sagar said that a Muslim family were attacked by their neighbors near Vazhimukku a week ago. The attackers were all reportedly affiliated with the ruling CPM. Neyyattinkara police have registered a case but the four accused are still on the run.
Police found that Jamal used the incident and tried to spread the event using provocative propaganda against Hindus and the police. He used his YouTube channel and uploaded his video on a channel called ‘Democracy’ in a biased manner. Jamal alleged that police were delaying the arrest of the accused since they belonged to a particular religion.
This insinuation did not go down well with the police. They felt that Jamal’s video contained provocative statements about the incident that could cause serious enmity between communities. They charged him under section IPC 153A, for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race. It is a non-bailable offense and Jamal was sent to judicial custody.
Media reports quoting Jamal’s close friends mentioned that the YouTuber was arrested on the eve of his sister’s marriage for reporting an incident in which the accused are CPM workers. Police said that this is not the first time that the accused had circulated videos aimed at inciting communal hatred. In 2017, another case was registered against Badusha for obstructing the police. Police have confiscated his computer and it seems like the police have removed the controversial content from YouTube.
Jamal likes to be in the limelight and was last seen in late 2020 when he married a Hindu lady named Anusha Ammu from Kottayam. He married her on the 13th of December that year as per Hindu customs at a function in Pala. Within three days she was seen wearing Muslim attire and they married as per Islamic traditions, once they reached Neyyattinkara on the 16th of that month.
He took to social media and was seen lecturing all and sundry about communalism and religious pluralism. He dedicated the post to all those whose ‘religious sentiments were hurt’ through his marriage.
Now the same man has been arrested for casting communal aspersions at the police in an ‘ultra-secular’ state like Kerala where Islamists and evangelists get preferential treatment while Hindus have to face police brutality during peaceful Sabarimala protests. This is how thin the facade of secularism adopted by such so-called moderates is.
