October 12, Kathmandu. Popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathi has accused the police of kidnapping and assault. In a video he posted on social media, he clarified that he is an Indian citizen. Showing his passport in the video, Rathi stated, “This is my passport, and I am an Indian citizen and will remain so. The claim that as a foreign passport holder I cannot participate in protests is completely false. I am an Indian citizen and have the same rights as any regular citizen.”
Explaining the incident, Rathi said that around 7 a.m. on October 11, several individuals in plain clothes entered his house. These individuals pushed his mother aside to enter the bedroom and forcibly took him away, he claimed. “I use the term kidnapping here because this was not an arrest or detention. Detention would have occurred if I had joined the protest. Arrest would have required a police officer to show a uniform and nameplate,” he clarified.
He reported that over 50 people were gathered outside his home and that they dragged him away like a criminal. During the ordeal, he was seriously injured and had his phone confiscated, preventing him from recording a video. Rathi alleged that the police held him without allowing access to a lawyer or phone for approximately 22 to 23 hours. Questioning the current state of the nation, he asked, “Have you ever seen in any democratic country where an ordinary citizen who has violated no law, raised voice for truth and national interest, and demanded a fair election commission, be kidnapped from his own bedroom and his parents assaulted?”
Accusing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of turning the country into a dictatorship, Rathi described the current situation as an “unofficial emergency.” He stated that 7,000 people, including CJP leaders, have been detained, and such incidents occur only during emergencies or in countries like North Korea. According to Rathi, more than 15 individuals continue to keep him under surveillance. He also claimed to be under an unannounced house arrest.
