The Hyderabad police have booked YouTuber and Bigg Boss Telugu season 5 contestant Sarayu and five others over a complaint that they allegedly hurt religious sentiments of Hindus. Sarayu, who is known for her work on the YouTube channel ‘7 Arts', was summoned by the Banjara Hills police along with others from her office in FilmNagar late on Monday, February 7. They were let off after police issued them notices, directing them to appear before them again on Tuesday, February 8.
The summons were issued following an FIR registered against them for allegedly insulting Hindu gods in a video screened in Sircilla last year as part of a promotional campaign for a restaurant. The FIR was registered after Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Sircilla district president Chapuri Ashok Sircilla lodged a complaint alleging that Sarayu and her cast members “demeaned the Hindu community and women.” The FIR was lodged at the Sircilla police station but it was later transferred to the Banjara Hills police station in Hyderabad.
Sub-Inspector (SI) Balaraju, who is investigating the case, told TNM that the complaint is related to a promotional video for the opening of 7arts Biryani restaurant in Sircilla. In the video uploaded about a year ago, Sarayu is seen visiting the restaurant along with a group of men, wearing saffron bands on their heads that read ‘Ganapati Bappa Moriya’ and holding rods in their hands, parodying right-wing groups cracking down on couples on Valentine’s Day. Sarayu and her group are seen physically assaulting a couple at the restaurant and forcing them to get married.
“The complaint alleges that she behaved in a way that hurts Hindu’s sentiments in the video, and that she behaves inappropriately while wearing a band that says ‘Ganapati Bappa Moriya’” the SI said, adding that in one version of the video, Sarayu and the other actors are seen consuming alcohol before entering the restaurant and harassing the couples.
Sarayu was arrested along with producer and director of the short film Srikanth Reddy and Karthik and Krishna Mohan who acted in the short film. According to ABN Telugu, Sarayu and the others associated with the video were booked under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
With IANS inputs