Madras High Court grants bail to YouTuber arrested for hijab video

The Madras High Court recently granted bail to YouTuber Anash Ahamed who was arrested in September this year by the Coimbatore police on charges of cyber terrorism after he allegedly recorded and shared a video on a private channel asking people to wear hijab and share their experience.

In the order passed on October 30, Justice P Dhanbal granted bail to Ahamed after noting that he had already been in custody for over 50 days and that he had no criminal antecedents.

“Considering the representation made on both sides, nature of offence, there is no previous case pending against the petitioner, taking into consideration the period of incarceration undergone by the petitioner and all other factors this Court is inclined to grant bail to the petitioner with certain conditions,” the Court said while directing Ahamed to execute a bond of ₹10,000 and to make an appearance before the police every morning for the next one month.

Ahamed was arrested by the Coimbatore police on September 5 and booked under Sections 352 (intentional insult to disrupt public peace) and 353 (statements conducing to public mischief) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for allegedly creating public mischief and breaching public peace. The police also booked the 21-year-old under Section 66(f) of the Information Technology Act charging him with the offence of cyber terrorism.

The prosecution opposed Ahamed’s bail application and argued that the said video had been recorded and uploaded on social media to “cause disturbance to public peace” and to “promote enmity between two religions.”

Ahamed however, told the court he was “innocent” and that he was being “falsely implicated” in the case.

Advocate P Mohan Babu appeared for Ahamed.

Government Advocate S Vinothkumar appeared for the State.

[Read order]