Content targeting CM’s children Bathinda-based YouTuber given clean chit
A district court granted bail to Sidhu on Thursday afternoon after the police administration conveyed to the court that there was no evidence against him
Within 24 hours of arresting a Bathinda-based YouTuber Sukhnaib Sidhu for posting a video on his social media handles purportedly containing a speech from an unidentified person sending out a call to target the children of chief minister Bhagwant Mann living in the US, the district police gave Sidhu clean chit on Thursday.
A district court granted bail to Sidhu on Thursday afternoon after the police administration conveyed to the court that there was no evidence against him in the case.
Investigating officials said the online hate content was aimed at mounting pressure on the Punjab CM to roll back police action against absconding Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh.
Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gulneet Khurana said that the case will not be cancelled as an investigation is underway to identify the person who made comments against CM’s children.
“The purported video was shot in Seattle, where a person is heard asking a gathering to consolidate support to target children of the CM to protect the fugitive Amritpal Singh. Sidhu shared the offensive content on his YouTube channel and Facebook page, but he was not found involved in endorsing the content,” the SSP said.
Amritpal was booked under a stringent National Security Act (NSA) and has been evading arrest for more than two weeks now.
Sidhu was booked under Sections 153 A (committing an offence specified in sub-section (1) in any place of worship or in any assembly engaged in the performance of religious worship or religious ceremonies); 153 B (whoever, by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Bathinda Press Club, the Congress leaders, including Bholath and Jalandhar Cantt legislators Sukhpal Khaira and Pargat Singh, termed the action against Sidhu as an attempt to gag the media.