Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested popular YouTuber Paras Singh after a case was registered against him for making a racist slur against former Arunachal Pradesh MP and incumbent Congress legislator Ninong Ering in one of his videos posted on Sunday.
The development was announced on Twitter by none other than Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, who tweeted that the Arunachal Pradesh police is on its way to Punjab for securing his transit remand. Rijiju said he had already spoken to the Police Commissioner of Ludhiana for an urgent Judicial process for transit remand to facilitate Singh’s transfer to Arunachal Pradesh.
“Punjab Police searched & taken Paras Singh under custody. Arunachal Pradesh Police team is reaching Punjab. I’ve spoken to Police Commissioner of Ludhiana for urgent Judicial process for transit remand as it’s inter-state arrest so that he can be brought to Arunachal Pradesh,” Rijiju tweeted.
Punjab Police searched & taken Paras Singh under custody. Arunachal Pradesh Police team is reaching Punjab. I’ve spoken to Police Commisioner of Ludhiana for urgent Judicial process for transit remand as it’s inter-state arrest so that he can be brought to Arunachal Pradesh. https://t.co/jm3WFAeVBL
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 25, 2021
Earlier yesterday, a case was registered against the YouTuber for spreading “racial hatred”, and the Cyber Crime branch in Itanagar had begun investigating the matter.
YouTuber Paras Singh’s controversial remarks against Ninong Ering and Arunachal Pradesh
YouTuber Paras Singh, who had a channel called ‘Paras Official’ on YouTube, had allegedly called Ering as a non-Indian and Arunachal Pradesh a part of China after the Congress legislator wrote a letter to PM Modi, asking to ban the re-launch of PUBG Mobile India’s new avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India.
In his letter to PM Modi, the former MP contended that “re-launching the game was a mere illusion and a trick to collect user data of the citizens, including children and transfer it to foreign companies and the Chinese government.” Ering said it poses a big threat to India’s security and asked the Prime Minister to stop the re-launch.
Requested @PMOIndia @narendramodi ji to not allow Chinese deception #BattlegroundsMobileIndia. It is a big threat to security of India & privacy of our citizens and a way to circumvent & disregard our laws.@AmitShah #IndiaBanBattlegrounds #NationFirst #AatmaNirbharBharat @ANI pic.twitter.com/H8nzUJ4aRk
— Ninong Ering (@ninong_erring) May 22, 2021
However, a call to ban the re-launch of the popular game PUBG did not sit well with the Punjab-based YouTuber, who created a video dissing the former MP. In his video, Singh could be heard passing a racist remark against Ering, saying “Mujhe to nahi lagta yeh(Ering Indian hai(I don’t think he is an Indian)” while pointing out at the MLA’s profile picture on Twitter. He then goes on to ask his viewers to check if Ering looks like an Indian and subsequently compares if the people from Arunachal Pradesh look like him.
Later in the video, the YouTuber is seen locating Arunachal Pradesh on a map, following which he says: “Arre yaar yeh (Arunachal) to China ki side me hai (This is on China’s side)” and adds, “yeh China walon ka hi hai (It belongs to the people of China)”. Singh further adds,”ek tarah se unhi k saath hi hai halka fulka touch hota hai, India me aata hai (In a way it(Arunachal Pradesh) is with them, only a small part of it is in India).”