UP girl posts video with ‘remarks against deities’ to ‘increase followers’; parents arrested

The officials investigating the matter said they got the video, which was uploaded last week, deleted and the girl’s social media account was also deactivated.

A case has been registered under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the police station concerned, said an official.

The police have also launched a search for a boy, believed to be around 18 years old, based on his photograph, who is suspected of instigating the girl to make the video in an attempt to gain more followers on social media, Circle Officer (Etawah) Abhay Nath Rai said.

“The girl’s parents — 55-year-old father and 50-year-old mother — were produced in court, which has sent them to judicial custody. The minor has been placed at the one-stop centre of a government-run shelter home and will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board,” said Rai.

According to the police, they received information last week about an over a minute-long video on Hindu deities that had been uploaded on social media. The police traced the source and found that the 12-year-old girl had made and uploaded it, they said.

The girl told police that she had recently learned how to make short videos and had gained around 1,000 followers. Among them was a person claiming to be from Muzaffarnagar, with whom she frequently spoke. The girl said while her parents were away at work, she often stayed home alone and talked to him. The boy allegedly told her that if she wanted to gain more followers and start earning money, she should create content that provoked members of one religion to abuse another, said Rai.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the girl’s parents were aware of her actions but did not intervene to stop her, said Rai.

A member of a Hindu organisation came across the video and approached the police, informing them about the matter.