Actor Yuvika Chaudhary was booked by the Haryana Police on May 28 for using a casteist slur against a Scheduled Caste (SC) community in a video that went viral on social media.
In the video that went viral on May 25 that featured her husband Prince Narula as well, 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 and was looking “so bad”.
Bhangi is a term often used in a pejorative manner to refer to an SC community.
Soon after the video went viral and 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.
“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.
In a show of support to his wife, Narula also apologised and said they were not aware of the meaning of the word and used it unintentionally. He said that it was only after facing flak that the couple became aware of its meaning. He requested “haters who troll” to check if they had used the word intentionally or by mistake before trolling.
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The FIR was filed based on a complaint by Rajat Kalsan, Dalit rights activist and convenor of the National Alliance for Dalit Human Rights, on May 25 at the City Hansi Police Station in Haryana. She has been booked under Section 3(1)(u) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
First Yuvraj Singh then Munmun Dutta and now a film actress Yuvika Chaudhary have used the term caste indicator to humiliate the scheduled caste. It may be a cheap TRP stunt, but we have complained against it in the police, soon the law will do its job.
— Rajat Kalsan رجت کلسن (@rajatkalsan3010) May 25, 2021
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.
Now a film artist @yuvikachoudhary has used the same term for the Scheduled Caste society which Yuvraj Singh and Munmun Dutta have done https://t.co/k0C9BQSUYV I have moved a complaint against Yuvika Chaudhary at PS Rajouri Garden, Delhi, Soon we'll see her behind the bars. pic.twitter.com/i2FUqF2nhb
— Ritu Choudhary (@RituChoudhryINC) May 25, 2021
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 an SC community in a video.
Dutta stated that she did not like a Bhangi, a term often used in a pejorative manner to refer to an SC community in a video released on May 9. She said that she instead “wanted to look good”.
A complaint was filed at the Indore police station and the other petition was filed by Kalsan against Dutta in Haryana’s Hansi City Police Station. Here too, a complaint was registered under Section 3(1) (U) of the SC ST POA Act.
