The Andhra Pradesh government has come under criticism for arresting a YouTuber and political commentator Bachalakuri Joseph alias Raavan under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The social media activist, whose videos allegedly contained disparaging remarks against Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan and other leaders of the ruling coalition, has been sent to 14-day judicial custody.
What has surprised the political observers was the invocation of the UAPA provisions, which are serious and non-bailable, against the YouTuber. The Gannavaram police in Krishna district have registered a criminal case against him under Sections 13 and 39 of the UAPA, along with sections 147, 148, 152, 192, 197(1)(d), and 353(1)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The FIR said Raavan had, in his videos, openly spoken in support of the Maoist ideology and encouraged armed rebellion. He was arrested on Sunday and produced before the additional junior civil judge court in Gannavaram who remanded him to judicial custody until July 18.
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He was then shifted to Nellore central prison on Monday.
The police said the case under several sections of BNS and UAPA was registered following a complaint by Jana Sena Party leader Garikapati Siva Sankar.
In his complaint, he alleged that Joseph alias Raavan had uploaded a video on the YouTube channel “Prashna” on November 25, 2025, praising the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), propagating its ideology among the public and expressing support for armed revolution, the officer cited above said.
He also alleged that the YouTuber expressed support for Maoist leader Hidma and widely circulated the video through social media platforms. The complaint claimed that such content could influence young people towards extremist ideology. Meanwhile, Raavan’s wife Anusha told the reporters in Hyderabad that the police had falsely implicated her husband in the case and false propaganda was being carried out against him through morphed videos.
She demanded that cases of this nature should first be filed against the Jana Sena Party leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, who she alleged had made provocative statements.
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