The Kolkata Police on Tuesday, 7 June, arrested YouTuber Roddur Roy from Goa for making derogatory remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee during a Facebook live.
The vlogger, in the online session, had blamed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders for alleged mismanagement at singer KK's last concert at Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata. The musician had collapsed, shortly after his performance at the auditorium, and was declared 'brought dead' by doctors when taken to a hospital.
Roddur Roy had accused the Banerjees and other TMC leaders such as Firhad Hakim and Madan Mitra for 'killing' the singer, and had claimed that many others had died because of them. He had also used expletives against the political leaders in the video.
An FIR has been lodged against Roy under various sections of the IPC based on a complaint filed by TMC spokesperson Riju Dutta at Chitpur police station on Saturday. Roy's video has also been pulled down from Facebook by the authorities.
Notably, this is not Roy's first brush with controversy.
Who Is Roddur Roy, Founder of 'Moxism'?
Roddur Roy, known for his strong takes against the government, has 326K subscribers on YouTube. He releases videos of his commentary on a variety of issues on his channel, where he speaks in Bengali and liberally uses profanities.
Roy has also published a book titled Stella Turns a Mom, which describes itself as "a psycho-erotic journey from corporate scenario to the cosmic truth."
A description of him on the website of self-publishing company Notion Press states that Roy is the founder of 'Moxism':
"Roy is the founder of Moxism, the practice of liberty, love and peace – an establishment created to reach social and individual salvation through literature, performing, arts and spirituality."
"With a background in consciousness science research and IT business process consultancy, he has been working to mingle the mundane and cosmic perception of the self and mass through art implementation towards establishment of global peace and harmony," the profile notes.
What Controversies Has Roy Courted in the Past?
Roy, who is vociferous about his strong political opinions, has come under the limelight for expressing his views on numerous occasions in the past.
As recently as May this year, several police complaints had been registered against Roy for mocking the Paschimbanga Bangla Academy’s decision to confer the West Bengal CM Banerjee with a special literary award.
In March 2020, a complaint had been filed against the social media personality by members of West Bengal Teachers Unity Open Forum for hurting public sentiment by distorting the songs of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
In videos which had gone viral on social media, Roy had replaced the lyrics in Tagore’s songs with expletives at some places.
After he was arrested for abusing Mamata Banerjee and other TMC leaders on Tuesday, the Opposition BJP questioned why the police had not taken action against Roy in the earlier instances of using foul language for luminaries like Rabindranath Tagore.
"Now that the chief minister and Abhishek Banerjee were abused, the police swung into action. Why should it be so?" BJP leader Anupam Hazra asked.
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