SC junks Manish Kashyap's plea: What the case is about
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the plea of YouTuber Manish Kashyap seeking to club three FIRs filed against him in Bihar and Tamil Nadu for spreading fake news and enmity between groups. The court also refused to entertain his plea seeking to quash his arrest under the National Security Act (NSA) and directed him to approach the respective high courts for relief.
Why does this story matter?
Kashyap alias Tripurari Kumar Tiwari (35) is an engineer and a self-proclaimed journalist from Bihar's West Champaran district who rose to fame by making high-decibel videos on small-time governance issues since 2018. He was booked in over two dozen cases after he shared old videos claiming that migrant laborers from Bihar were assaulted in Tamil Nadu and later lied about being arrested.
Issue started with misleading videos
The issue originated with a fictitious report about 12 Bihari laborers hanged to death in Tamil Nadu. To back up the claim, two videos were shared falsely claiming that Tamils were attacking Bihari migrant laborers. However, both videos turned out to be misleading. Kashyap then allegedly used his YouTube channel to spread misinformation and allegedly shot fake videos to bolster his claims.
Both videos turned out to be unrelated
In the first video, two migrant workers from Bihar and Jharkhand were seen fighting near Tirupur. Upendradhari (50) of Jharkhand was held for Pawan Yadav's (27) death in the case. The second video was found to be related to a clash between two local gangs in Coimbatore, in which 13 people were arrested. Both the videos were recorded in February and resurfaced later.
Fake posts, social media accounts traced back to Kashyap
Regarding the matter, Bihar's Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) identified 26 social media posts and 42 social media accounts, which turned out to be fake. Kashyap also falsely posted an old photo claiming he had been arrested in the case, following which another case was registered against him. One of Kashyap's arrested associates, Rakesh Tiwari, told the police that Kashyap shot the videos in Patna.
Kashyap booked in Bihar, Tamil Nadu
As many as 14 cases were filed against him in Bihar and 13 cases in Tamil Nadu for inciting hatred between communities. In March, he was on the run after the EOW issued multiple notices to him. An arrest warrant was also issued and the police started conducting raids to nab him and froze his bank accounts, following which he surrendered.
Kashyap was arrested twice in 2019
The son of an Army personnel, he unsuccessfully contested the Bihar Assembly elections from the Chanpatia constituency in 2020 as an independent candidate. He was arrested twice in 2019, once for allegedly vandalizing the statue of King Edward VII in Bettiah and later for allegedly assaulting a Kashmiri shopkeeper in Patna's Lhasa Market following the Pulwama attack.
What Kashyap allegedly wanted to achieve
Kashyap, who calls himself "the son of Bihar" and a "proud Hindu activist," has been accused of attempting to destabilize the Bihar and Tamil Nadu governments, both of which oppose the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. He allegedly tried to exploit the historic and linguistic divide between the two states to paint the Tamil Nadu government as anti-north Indian and the Bihar government as incompetent.
