‘Modi has made my life hell,’ says 15-yr-old booked over PM remarks
text_fields
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “turned my life into hell”, a 15-year-old girl has allegedly said in a video that was widely shared on social media on Monday.
Scroll could not independently verify when or where the video was recorded. However, the girl's lawyer confirmed to The Tribune that the video was not generated using artificial intelligence.
The girl was booked on July 30 for allegedly making objectionable remarks about the Prime Minister during youth protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.
A day later, she apologised for her remarks. Her mother, however, told The Telegraph that the family was forced to leave their rented home in Noida after being “hounded by police and mediapersons”.
Scroll had reported that several Bharatiya Janata Party supporters also shared the girl's phone number and the names of her family members on social media. The posts included abusive and sexually explicit comments targeting the 15-year-old.
In the latest video shared by the Congress on Monday, the girl alleged that Modi had had her “tortured” to the extent that she had “lost everything”, including her freedom.
“I am unable to leave my home and have had to hide my face wherever I go,” she said in the video.
The Congress said the Prime Minister should be “ashamed” for allegedly getting a “15-year-old trolled by BJP goons”.
The FIR against the girl was registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace, statements conducing to public mischief and defamation.
A day after the girl apologised, Modi posted a video on social media saying he wanted to forgive the students who had allegedly made objectionable remarks against him and urged that they be shown the right path.
Soon afterwards, the complaint against the 15-year-old was withdrawn, PTI reported. However, it remained unclear whether the FIR itself had been withdrawn.
The youth protests over alleged mismanagement of several competitive examinations began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign organised a demonstration at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, who was then the Union Education Minister.
On July 20, thousands joined the protest, two days after police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital. Wangchuk had been on a hunger strike for three weeks.
The protesters' march towards Parliament was met with a police crackdown. Dozens of people were injured as police used lathis, tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.
The police action intensified the agitation, which subsequently spread to other parts of the country. Pradhan resigned as Education Minister on July 25.