Youtuber and activist Prashna Ravan was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police on June 30 for allegedly making remarks against deputy chief minister and actor Pawan Kalyan and his family. He has since been released on bail four times and was re-arrested for the fifth time on Saturday. Amid this, Prakash Raj questioned Pawan about the arrests.
Prakash Raj questions Pawan Kalyan about Ravan’s arrests
On Friday morning, when Ravan was arrested for the fourth time, Prakash took to X (formerly Twitter) and posted a video he captioned: “Arrest/ Bail ..Arrest /Bail.. Arrest/Bail.. and arrest again. Isn’t Courts telling you that you are wrong.. Citizens are witnessing your Vindictive politics.. @ncbn @PawanKalyan please stop this #justasking.”
Questioning both chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan, he said, “What is this drama and wickedness? You arrested him, and the court gave him bail. You arrested him yet again on another case, and the court gave him bail. You did it again, and the court gave him bail. But you arrested him again. What is the court saying? They’re telling you your cases are false. Is this how you govern?” He also alleged that Pawan’s Jana Sainiks are planning to harm Ravan. “Won’t you have respect for the courts too?” he questioned, pointing out that the nation is watching their ‘mistakes’.
Later in the day, when Ravan was released on bail and arrested for the fifth time, he wrote, “4 th bail and again fifth arrest .. this is mockery of Court s Peopele are watching @ncbn @PawanKalyan #AndhraPolice #GovernmentofAndhrapradesh .. we are witnessing your arrogance, your frustration and your fear to Voices that question. Our fight will continue #justasking.”
He said in the video he posted, “How low can you go? He took bail four times in four different cases from four different judges who told you your cases were false. Still, you arrested him for the fifth time. You won’t change, people must understand.” Prakash also added, “This won’t stop here. The more you do this, the more people understand. This is not done. People will revolt, people will question, and we will stand for the freedom of expression.”
What did Pawan Kalyan say?
On July 2, Pawan spoke about Ravan’s arrest in a video posted by his Jana Sena Party and said, “Freedom of speech is not absolute or unconditional. It has its own limitations, and it comes with its own legal implications when it violates the rights of others. Article 19, clause 2 of the constitution places reasonable restrictions in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, national security, public order, decency, morality, defamation and preventing incitement to offenses.”
He also added, “You have the right to question us. You have the right to disagree with our decisions. This is democracy, and we welcome it. But abusing someone, issuing death threats, spreading false allegations, targeting women, insulting religious beliefs, attacking someone’s dignity or provoking violence are not protected under the constitution. They are criminal offences.” His remarks came as police registered cases against several individuals from Pithapuram and Eluru for allegedly posting objectionable and offensive content against him and his family on social media.