West Bengal: YouTuber held for creating 'derogatory' memes on CM Mamata; 7 others booked

Kolkata Police arrested a YouTuber Tuhin Mondal for allegedly making offensive memes against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. According to news agency ANI, the 29-year-old YouTuber was arrested on September 26 from Nadia's Taherpur. Mondal's mobile phone was also seized by the police in connection with the case. 

According to news agency PTI, Mondal was arrested on allegations of creating provocative and derogatory memes on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The content creator was reportedly arrested from his house in Bapujinagar in the Taherpur police station area by officers of the Kolkata Police's Intelligence Branch. His arrest came nearly a week after a complaint was filed by a 21-year-old man at Taratala police station in south Kolkata. 

"Mondal, who has no steady income, is believed to have made provocative, derogatory and abusive memes by editing parts of the Chief Minister's speeches to defame her. The complainant claimed that such acts can incite violence and disrupt peace," PTI quoted a Kolkata police officer as saying. 

Notably, seven other content creators are also named in the complaint and a search operation has been launched in order to arrest them. The case was filed under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Past arrests of YouTubers

Earlier in June this year, YouTuber and vlogger Roddur Roy was arrested by Kolkata Police from Goa on charges of abusing Mamata Banerjee. Roy was arrested based on the complaint of Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen, who alleged that the YouTuber had used derogatory language against the Chief Minister in a Facebook live session.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police arrested a Jadavpur University professor named Ambikesh Mahapatra in 2012 for allegedly forwarding an email containing a cartoon of Mamata Banerjee.