The protests took a violent turn in Mumbai and Nagpur, with some students damaging private and police vehicles by pelting stones and blocking roads. (File) YouTuber Vikas Fhatak (41), alias ‘Hindustani Bhau’, was on Friday afternoon produced before a magistrate court in Bandra and remanded to police custody for one more day, till Saturday. He was arrested Tuesday for his alleged role in provoking students of classes 10 and 12 in Maharashtra to protest against offline exams. Meanwhile, his aide Ikrar Khan was remanded to judicial custody.
Public prosecutor Prasad Joshi argued that Fhatak had received instructions from one person on social media to orchestrate the protest. The police said that this person is linked to a political party and it needs to be found out why Fhatak had taken instructions from him. The police said they are trying to trace this person.
The police said that Fhatak was not sharing his Gmail password with them and they need to go through it. In his defence, Phatak said he had forgotten his Gmail password and said he would help the police in recovering it. After listening to both sides, the magistrate extended Fhatak’s custody for one more day. Fhatak was also allowed to have a chat with his lawyer.
The police arrested Fhatak and Khan for orchestrating the riots in Dharavi where over a thousand students, mostly minors, choked the roads, and some of them took to violence, on Monday demanding the cancellation of offline board exams for Class 10 and 12 given the Covid-19 pandemic.
On January 29, Fhatak uploaded a video on Instagram asking students to “peacefully protest” with him against the government’s decision in Dharavi outside the residence of Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad.
An FIR was registered against Fhatak and several others under IPC sections 353 (obstructing public servant from discharging duty),332 (causing hurt to public servant), 427 (mischief causing damage), 109 (abetment) and 114 (abettor present when offence committed), 143, 145, 146, 149 for unlawful assembly and rioting and 188, 269, 270 for violating Covid-19 guidelines. The police also booked them under section 3 (mischief causing damage) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property act 1984.
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