Actor Yuvika Chaudhary, who was arrested by the Haryana Police for using casteist slurs against members of the Scheduled Caste (SC) community in a viral video on Thursday was released on interim bail, ETimes reported.
“My client has joined the investigation as per the guidelines given by the High Court and she is on interim bail now (in a case of alleged offensive remarks against Scheduled Castes on a social media platform)”, said Chaudhary’s lawyer Ashok Bishnoi, according to ANI.
Chaudhary was earlier booked for her casteist slur by the Haryana Police on May 28.
The FIR was filed based on a complaint by Rajat Kalsan, a Dalit rights activist and the convenor of the National Alliance for Dalit Human Rights, on May 25 at the City Hansi Police Station in Haryana. She had been booked under Section 3(1)(u) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
In the video that went viral on May 25 which featured her and her husband Prince Narula, Chaudhary was heard saying that whenever she makes a vlog she looks like a Bhangi because she doesn’t get enough time to dress properly. She said she usually ended up looking bad.
Bhangi is a term often used in a pejorative manner to refer to an SC community.
Another complaint was filed on the same day against Chaudhary by Ritu Choudhary, the national coordinator of the Indian National Congress, at the Rajouri Garden Police Station in New Delhi.
Soon after the video went viral, the actor began facing severe backlash. She edited the video and took to Instagram to apologise on the same day.
While apologising, Chaudhary said she used the word without knowing its meaning.
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“Hi guys I didn’t know the meaning about the word what I used in my vlog I didn’t mean to hurt anyone and I can never do that to hurt someone I apologise to each n every one I hope you understand love you all,” she wrote on her Instagram.
Other Such Cases
On Saturday, the former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh was also arrested and then later released on bail by the Haryana Police as part of an investigation into a complaint that he had used a casteist slur in an Instagram live video against cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal.
Last week, a case was filed against Munmun Dutta, the actor best known for her performance in the Hindi television series Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma, for using a casteist slur against the SC community in a video.