Bihar youth alleges harassment over language in Bengaluru, police say they are probing issue

A video of a youth from Bihar accusing three people in Bengaluru of abusing and harassing him due to his inability to speak in Kannada, the local language, has gone viral on social media. The incident according to the man allegedly took place on April 7, while he was working at a restaurant in Bengaluru. In the video he alleged that customers misbehaved with the him as he was unable to communicate with then as they only knew Kannada, while he only knew Hindi.

In response to the issue, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy stated that an inquiry has been initiated, and the man has left for Bihar. "The individual was working in a restaurant. We found out that there was an altercation between him and a group of customers who were people from a rural area who only knew Kannada. We have initiated an inquiry on this," he said, adding that they are in touch with the man.

According to an Indian Express report, the man intentionally turned this into a language issue by shouting in the middle of the road. So far, no formal complaint has been filed. The Commissioner further said that the police saw the video on social media and started the probe.

The man has been identified as Nitesh Kumar Yadav, who works at an eatery in north Bengaluru. In the video, Yadav, who identifies himself as a resident of Bihar's Muzaffarpur, can be heard using abusive language to describe how Hindi-speaking people are being mistreated in Bengaluru. He says, "I am from Bihar's Muzaffarpur, and I work at a food stall in Bengaluru. The people who come to our stall have a major problem with Hindi-speaking people. What do they think of themselves? Will they kill us? Everybody abuses and belittles us, without even showing mercy. I request the government to do justice to the Hindi-speaking people in Karnataka."

The Commissioner also said that Bengaluru is a cosmopolitan story and people should respect each other. "When an incident like this happens, please dial 112 and our resonse is 30 seconds away. Social media is not the platform to rake up these issues. If we don't act on your complaint, you are free to raise it on social media."