The Nampally court, on Thursday, July 11, sent YouTuber Praneeth Hanumantu to 14-day judicial custody for his vulgar and obscene comments on the father-daughter relationship. Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau, which had arrested him in Bangalore on July 10, brought him to Hyderabad on a transit warrant and produced him before a magistrate at Nampally Criminal Court Complex. After the magistrate remanded Praneeth to judicial custody, he was shifted to Chanchalguda Jail.
Praneeth (29), a native of Andhra Pradesh and resident of Hyderabad, the son of IAS officer H Arun Kumar, who is working as Special Commissioner of Agriculture, Andhra Pradesh, is the main accused in the case. Earlier this week, Praneeth and his friends –who go by the pseudonyms – Burra Yuvaraju, Adi, and Dallas Nageshwar Rao – aired a live stream on his YouTube channel Phanumantu (which has almost 1,82,000 subscribers). While reacting to the reel involving a father and daughter, Praneeth and his friends sexualised the duo’s relationship, leading to wide outrage on the internet. The said video has now been made ‘private’.
The FIR was registered under sections 67B (publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, 294 (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place) of the Indian Penal Code, 79 of BNS (word gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman) and 13 (c) (indecent or obscene representation of a child) of the POCSO Act. Praneeth was absconding since the day the matter came to light and he was finally arrested on July 10.
Shikha Goel, Director of Telangana Cyber Security Bureau, said the efforts were on to apprehend the remaining accused. The FIR was registered after Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka promised action when actor Sai Dharam Tej reported child abuse online. Sai Dharam Tej had expressed outrage on social media and urged the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of both the Telugu states to demand necessary action to curb horrific acts like this in future. Some other actors and people from various walks of life had also demanded action against those involved.
(With IANS inputs)