It turned out to be more of a classroom than a day-long police custody for Ludhina-based YouTuber Paras Singh, who was arrested and handed over to Arunachal Pradesh police recently for "anti-national" and racial comment in a video regarding regarding the state and its people.
Paras, 22, who has been booked under sedition charge, was provided virtual lessons on geography, history and culture of Arunachal Pradesh during the police remand on Friday to make him understand that Arunachal Pradesh is part of India and it shares border with China.
"He was shown the virtual world map to make him realise his mistake. He was also shown videos about tourism landscape of Arunachal Pradesh, various tribes and their rich culture. Although he admitted that he made the controversial video in order to get more views on YouTube for monetary gains, we believe his ignorance about the state and its people was also responsible for such insensitivity," a police officer in Arunachal Pradesh capital, Itanagar said.
Paras was arrested in Ludhiana and handed over to Arunachal Pradesh police on Thursday after a YouTube video in which he had allegedly said that Arunachal Pradesh is part of China and made racial comment about people of the state, had gone viral. He made the video while reacting to a letter by Congress MLA in Arunachal Pradesh and former union minister, Ninong Ering to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 22 requesting a ban on the relaunch of PUBG Mobile in India.
"Paras was probably upset with the letter as he made many of his videos on PUBG which got huge views and he was earning money. Also he probably made the controversial comment in the new video in order to get attention and more views," Rohit Rajbir Singh, SP of special investigation team set up by Arunachal Pradesh police to probe the case, told reporters in Itanagar on Friday.
Police said Paras has two YouTube accounts, which are his only source of income. He earns about a dollar for per 10,000 views. One cannel is called 'Parash Official,' which is used for showing tips, tricks, and informing his subscribers about the new skins of games like Call of Duty (COD) mobile and PUBG unboxing videos. The other channel, 'Paras Gamers' is used to livestream PUBG on YouTube.
The matter invited a strong reaction as China frequently claims Arunachal Pradesh to be part its territory.
Rajbir Singh said Paras was booked under Section 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between groups on the basis of religion, race...) and 502 (defammation) of IPC. On Saturday, Paras was remanded to judicial custody for six days by a court in Itanagar.
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