THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thampanoor Police on Sunday registered non-bailable cases against a group of activists for assaulting a YouTuber as he allegedly made derogatory remarks against women on social media. The group was led by dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi and activist Diya Sana.
The police have also registered a bailable offence against YouTuber Vijay P Nair, who was accused of making sexually explicit comments against feminists on his channel, 'Vtrix scene'. The complaint against Nair was lodged by one Sreelakshmi on Saturday evening.
However, the police have been accused of siding with Vijay after they filed non-bailable cases against the activists.
Cases were registered against Bhagyalakshmi, Diya Sana, and Sreelakshmi Arackal Vijay on Saturday under sections 323(Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 ( Punishment for criminal intimidation), 294b (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place,), 452 ( House-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 392 ( Punishment for robbery) of Indian Penal Code.
The activists were charged of robbery as they took Vijay's laptop and hard disk for producing it as proof before the police.
But the cops only charged Section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) against Vijay, kicking off a row. According to police, further action will be taken based on a preliminary investigation.
"A probe is on. We have registered cases based on complaints from both the sides. Now, we need to probe in detail and further actions will be taken accordingly. So there is no point in any controversy," said Baiju A, Thampanoor CI.
Meanwhile, Bhagyalakshmi told media persons, "I have no regrets. If the police registered a case against us, we are ready to go to jail."
According to her, they had to confront Nair due to a lack of response and action from the police and the Women's Commission on the matter.
On Sunday, the woman activists marched towards the Secretariat in protest against the police action.
The incident went viral on social media after Diya Sana, who rose to fame through the reality show Bigg Boss, posted live videos of the protests on Facebook.
The incident took place at the lodge room of Vijay around 5 pm at Gandhari Amman Kovil Road in Thiruvananthapuram.
Earlier, activist Sreelakshmi Arackal had approached the Kerala Women's Commission, the Cyber Cell, as well as the Social Justice Department, seeking action against him.
In the video clip, Bhagyalakshmi said that their protest was for all women in the state. It is an appropriate reply to those who think they can say anything they want on social media, she said.