GUWAHATI, Feb 18: Gauhati High Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to YouTuber Ashis Chanchlani in connection with a case for allegedly promoting obscenity in a publicly accessible online show.
Chanchlani is one of the persons named in the case in Assam, in which podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia was the key accused because of his controversial comments on YouTube show ‘India’s Got Latent’.
Hearing an anticipatory bail petition by the accused, a single-judge bench of Justice Mridul Kumar Kalita granted Chanchlani interim relief and asked him to be present before the investigating officer within 10 days.
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Chanchlani’s counsels Diganta Das and Joyraj Borah argued that their client did not utter anything in the show, and the allegations in the FIR were made against the co-accused persons only.
The FIR was registered by Guwahati Police on a complaint of an individual on February 10 under various sections of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhtia (BNS), Information Technology Act, Cinematograph Act and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
The advocates of the petitioner pointed out that the Supreme Court earlier in the day granted interim protection from arrest to prime accused podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia over his comments on the show.
On the other hand, the public prosecutor opposed the grant of any interim protection on the ground that the accused failed to comply with the police notice issued to him in spite of receiving it.
After hearing both sides, Justice Kalita granted him the interim bail and said: “The petitioner shall appear before the investigating police officer within 10 days from the date of this order and shall cooperate with the investigation.”
The high court also said that Chanchlani shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to the informant or to any other persons, who may be acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade such person from disclosing the facts before the investigating officer or to any court.
The high court fixed March 7 as the date of the next hearing and ordered the production of the case diary.
Aside from Allahbadia and Chanchlani, others named in the case in Assam are comics Samay Raina, Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Makhija.
Several FIRs were lodged against Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, for the comment on parents and sex on YouTube show “India’s Got Latent”.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to Allahbadia while calling the show “vulgar” and saying he had “dirty mind” which put the society to shame. (PTI)
