Podcaster awarded by Modi in trouble with police over incest joke
Indian podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, known online as BeerBiceps, has landed in legal trouble over coarse comments he made on a comedy show.
Allahbadia, 31, recently appeared on an episode of YouTube comedy show India’s Got Latent, helmed by comedian Samay Raina. On the show, he asked a contestant: “Would you rather watch your parents have sex for the rest of your life or join in once to make it stop?”
The show itself is a play on popular reality TV series India’s Got Talent. Each episode features a different set of celebrity judges and Raina as the sole constant, focuses on humour that is often called out on social media for being “crass”, and uses abusive language.
Several videos of Allahbadia’s question went viral on social media almost immediately, with most reactions calling his statement offensive and crude.
Allahbadia started out as a fitness and lifestyle content creator in August 2015 before moving to podcasting in 2019. The online influencer has over nine million followers on three Instagram accounts, and over 18 million subscribers on his YouTube channels.
He has interviewed celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and even Indian ministers like former education minister Smriti Irani, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, and former Delhi chief minister Atishi.
In March 2024, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi awarded Allahbadia the ‘Disruptor of the Year’ prize at the first edition of the National Creators Award.
One of the first reactions came from journalist and lyricist Neelesh Misra, who called out the judges for “zero sense of responsibility” and social media platforms for rewarding such content.
“Meet the perverted creators who are shaping our country’s creative economy. I am sure each one has a following of millions. This content is not designated as adult content – it can be seen with ease even by a child if the algorithm takes him or her there,” he wrote on X. “The creators or the platform have zero sense of responsibility. I am also not surprised at all that four people at the desk – and lots in the audience – celebrated this and had a great laugh. You, the audience, normalised and celebrated this and people like these.”
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed the issue, saying: “I have come to know about it. I have not seen it yet. Things have been said and presented in a wrong way. Everyone has freedom of speech, but our freedom ends when we encroach upon the freedom of others. In our society, we have made some rules, and if someone violates them, it is absolutely wrong and action should be taken against them.”
Congress party member Supriya Shrinate wrote on X: “This isn’t creative. It’s pervert. And we can’t normalise perverse behaviour as cool. The fact that this sick comment met loud applause must worry us all.”
In addition to the backlash on social media, police complaints were filed in financial capital Mumbai and Guwahati city in the northeastern state of Assam against Allahbadia, Raina, an influencer named Apoorva Mukhija who was part of the panel, and India’s Got Latent for promoting obscenity.
While the police in Mumbai are still conducting an inquiry, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared on X that a First Information Report, the first step in any police procedure on the commission of a cognizable offence, had been filed.
In the wake of the backlash, Allahbadia posted an apology on Monday. “I shouldn’t have said what I said on India’s got latent. I’m sorry,” he said in a video. “My comment wasn’t just inappropriate, it wasn’t even funny. Comedy is not my forte, I am just here to say sorry. Many of you have asked if this is how I want to use my platform. Obviously this is not how I wish to use it. I’m not going to give any context or justification or reasoning behind whatever happened. I am just here for an apology. I personally had a lapse in judgement. It wasn’t cool on my part.
“The podcast is watched by people of all ages, I don’t want to be the kind of person that takes that responsibility lightly and family is the last thing I would ever disrespect.”
The issue continued to escalate, however, with local media reporting that a Mumbai police team visited Allahbadia’s home on Tuesday and Priyanka Chaturvedi, a member of parliament, saying she would raise the issue in the national legislature.
“Any abusive language in the name of comedy content crosses limits is not acceptable. You get a platform, that doesn’t mean that you will utter anything. He is someone with millions of subscribers, every political leader has sat in his podcast. PM has given him an award,” she said.
“As a member of standing committee of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, I will raise this issue.”
The video of the episode featuring Allahbadia was taken off YouTube on Tuesday following a request from the National Human Rights Commission India member Priyank Kanoongo.
“We have taken cognizance upon receiving a complaint against some YouTube channel that they are using abusive language, they are using pervert content on their YouTube channel and through this they are actually polluting young minds,” Mr Kanoongo was quoted as saying by ANI.
“It is against the modesty of women. They are also indulged in some activities which are prima facie violative and they are passing racist comments against some ethnic groups in India.
“So, we have issued a notice to YouTube to take down all these types of content and inform concerned police authorities so that they can start penal action against these persons.”
The chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Vijaya Rahatkar, urged the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to issue guidelines for streaming platforms amid “the increasing prevalence of obscene content”.
The Independent has reached out to Allahbadia and Raina for comment.
As the issue continued to gain steam, the tone of the criticism changed, with many people questioning the hullabaloo over a YouTuber’s comments while several media and political personalities make hate speech with no punishment.
“What is being done today in the name of dank comedy is pure nonsense. The only purpose is to shock and disgust audiences for views which is having a disastrous impact on the moral development of our youth,” YouTuber Dhruv Rathee said.
He added, however, that state interference “is not the solution as it may usher in a harsh censorship regime. Instead, we need to pressurize content creators to make better content”.
“It’s getting more and more bizarre. Now, Mumbai police has landed at Ranveer Allahbadia house as FIRs are filed against him across the country. Doesn’t the outrage factory have better things to do? The guy has apologised. Do any of our serial hate speech makers ever do that? One of them has just won an assembly seat in Delhi by a huge margin in fact. Time to take a chill pill! And for the cops to actually catch the real criminals around us!” asked veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.
Teacher admits to stabbing 8-year-old girl to death in South Korea
An elementary school teacher has admitted to fatally stabbing an eight-year-old girl in the central city of Daejeon in South Korea.
The teacher, who is in her 40s, is currently in hospital for self-inflicted wounds on her neck and arms and has not been arrested as investigations continue, according to local media reports.
The eight-year-old had been at her elementary school in Daejeon, 160km south of Seoul, for after-class childcare before she was supposed to attend a private art class.
An official from the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education said during a media briefing on Tuesday that the girl was found by her grandmother at around 6.00pm local time on Monday after the parents reported her missing from the art class.
The motive of the attack remains unclear, and police have not found a personal connection between the teacher and the victim.
A local fire department official told Reuters that the teacher had sustained stab wounds to her neck and face. The teacher underwent surgery for her injuries, and police plan to resume questioning her once she recovers, according to the Yonhap news agency.
During a cabinet meeting, acting president Choi Sang Mok expressed condolences over the child’s death and instructed the education ministry and authorities to conduct a thorough investigation.
While South Korea generally has a low murder rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people – below the global average of six per 100,000 – the country saw several high-profile violent crimes in 2023, including multiple stabbings.
Among the violent incidents last year were a subway station stabbing that left one dead and three wounded, an attack on a high school teacher in Daejeon, and a knife-wielding assailant driving into pedestrians before attacking shoppers in Bundang.
Last year, South Korea’s liberal opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed in the neck during a public event in Busan.
China complains about Arunachal Pradesh map in Bangladesh textbook
China has raised objections over Bangladeshi textbooks depicting Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as part of India in a map of Asia.
Chinese diplomats claimed Bangladesh “incorrectly depicted the two territories” as part of India‘s territory in grade four textbooks and on the website of the Department of Survey, calling it a “factual discrepancy”.
Beijing sent a letter to Bangladesh in November last year, requesting corrections to the maps and information presented in the textbooks and on the survey department’s website, Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo reported.
In the letter, China said the Bangladesh and Global Studies textbook contains a map of the Asian region in which the territorial boundaries between China and India have been “inaccurately marked”, particularly with regard to Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin.
India and China share a 3,488km border that runs from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. China holds a large piece of territory called the Aksai Chin in Ladakh that it won during the 1962 war with India and claims India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of its province of Tibet.
Relations between the hostile neighbours hit a new low in July 2020 after at least 20 Indian armymen and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a deadly clash in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh. It was the first time in 45 years that a clash on the border had led to fatalities.
Last year, New Delhi said it had reached an agreement with Beijing on military patrols along their disputed Himalayan border, marking a significant step towards resolving the standoff.
China also disputed the mention of Hong Kong and Taiwan as separate countries with trade relations with Dhaka in the Bangladesh and Global Studies textbook for students of grades nine and 10.
Beijing maintains that self-governed Taiwan is a breakaway province and has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control.
China has asked Dhaka to abide by the “One China” policy and emphasised mutual respect for each other’s “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity”.
The letter was followed by a discussion between diplomats of the two nations.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Education and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board said the process of printing new textbooks had already been completed, which left them no room for corrections.
This pushed Dhaka to request Beijing to not exert pressure on the issue and reportedly assured it that the matter would be addressed in a coordinated manner later.
“We are maintaining status quo, not making any changes at this moment,” a Bangladesh government official told The Daily Star on Sunday.
US woman who went viral over Pakistan marriage trip leaves country
An American woman who became a social media sensation after flying to Pakistan to marry a teenager has finally left the country, reports say.
Onijah Andrew Robinson, 33, traveled to Karachi in October last year to meet and marry Nidal Ahmed Memon – a 19-year-old Pakistani man.
The New Yorker was ultimately rejected by the teenager, after his family is said to have objected to their relationship. Ms Robinson’s 30 day visa reportedly expired in November but she refused to leave the country, with her plight going viral thanks to clips widely shared on Instagram and TikTok.
Now, some four months later, local media says she has finally left Pakistan. Pakistani outlet Geo News stated that Ms Robinson boarded a flight from Karachi on Friday, with footage showing local police seeing her off at the airport.
The News International – one of the country’s largest English language newspapers – said that a medical board had declared her fit to travel having discharged her from a stay in hospital. She was persuaded to return home by US consulate staff in Karachi, who also arranged her ticket, the newspaper added.
But to further muddy the waters in the strange saga, videos were posted to social media on Monday claiming to be of Ms Robinson in Dubai. Her flight home to the US on Friday was via Dubai, News International said, but in one Instagram clip she is seen posing for selfies with a large group of smiling men surrounding her on an outside street.
A caption on the clip says Ms Robinson had “attracted a new fanbase in Dubai”.
During her extended stay in Pakistan, she held a bizarre press conference in which she asked the government for “100k or more”, claiming it was to improve vital services in the country such as infrastructure and local transport.
In another, she asked for “two thousand or more every week”, “more than five thousand dollars in USD”, “I want 20K up front, 5K-10K to stay here every week, and I want those demands from the government right away”, according to the spate of videos that were circulated on TikTok.
The Independent has contacted the US consulate in Karachi for comment.
Chinese couple kicked off plane in Kuala Lumpur for causing commotion
Two Chinese nationals were removed from a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) after causing a disturbance before takeoff, police said.
The woman passenger allegedly acted erratically, prompting security officers to escort her and her partner off the flight to Jieyang, China.
“She and her partner were then taken out of the plane by security officers,” KLIA police chief Azman Shariat said in a statement. The couple later reportedly refused to cooperate with police and displayed aggressive behaviour.
Health officials administered sedatives and admitted them to Hospital Sultan Idris Shah for evaluation due to suspected mental health issues, police said.
“The police then requested assistance from the Health Ministry officers and after a check, both were administered sedatives,” Mr Shariat said.
“Both were brought to Hospital Sultan Idris Shah in Serdang to undergo a full examination because both were suspected of mental health issues. They were then detained at the ward,” he said, according to Malaysian outlet The Star.
No arrests were made, and both tested negative for drugs.
The details of the flight on which the couple was supposed to fly to Jieyang in China remain unclear.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian outlet The Rakyat Post reported that a Chinese couple has gone missing while travelling in Malaysia, sparking concern among their family.
They were reportedly scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Jieyang on 9 February before heading to Nanjing but never arrived. Their phones are switched off, and flight records show they never boarded their flight.
It, however, remains unclear if these are the same Chinese nationals who were removed from one flight Jieyang on 9 February. The outlet said that their last known location was TRX Residence in Kuala Lumpur on 8 February.
The family posted a missing persons notice on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu and is seeking help, including from the Chinese embassy in Malaysia, reports said.
Bleeding man arrested for knife attack on Kyoto train station staff
An injured man reportedly attacked a staff member at a train station in Kansai region in western Japan on Tuesday.
The unidentified Japanese man, with a bleeding forehead, reportedly pulled out a knife and attacked a staff member at a train station in Seika in Kyoto prefecture around 6.30am on 11 February.
Station staff and bystanders reportedly subdued the man and alerted the police.
Local police arrested the man on suspicion of violating the Firearms and Swords Control Law. There were no injuries reported.
According to West Japan Railway, the incident led to cancellations and delays on the Gakkentoshi Line, impacting approximately 150 passengers.
Last month, a knife attack outside Nagano Station in central Japan left one person dead and two injured. A 49-year-old man died, while a 37-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman sustained injuries.
The stabbing occurred near a bus terminal outside Nagano station, according to the Kyodo News. The incident, suspected to be a random attack with no one targeted in particular, occurred near JR Nagano Station.
The suspect used a blade-like object to attack three people waiting for a bus near the station, police said. One of them, Hiroyuki Maruyama, a 49-year-old man, was pronounced dead in a hospital. Maruyama was stabbed in the left side of the abdomen and went into cardiac arrest.
Violent crime is rare in Japan due to its strict gun control laws. However, recent years have seen several high-profile incidents of random knife attacks and arson on subways.
In 2021, a 24-year-old man dressed as the Joker attacked passengers on a Tokyo train on Halloween night, injuring 17 people. He stabbed a man in his 60s, who was left in critical condition, and set a fire inside the train.
The suspect, who was later seen calmly smoking on the train, was arrested at the scene. He reportedly told authorities he wanted to kill people to receive the death penalty.
Fresh violence plunges Manipur into political crisis as leader resigns
A fresh wave of violence in Manipur compelled the northeast Indian state’s chief minister to resign over the weekend as the almost two-year-old ethnic conflict raged on unabated.
N Biren Singh, senior member of prime minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party, announced that he had submitted his resignation to the governor on Sunday.
The resignation came just a day before the state legislative assembly was scheduled to go in session.
The state was now expected to be placed under the president’s rule, meaning that it would effectively be ruled directly by Mr Modi’s government.
In his resignation letter, Mr Singh thanked Mr Modi’s federal government for what he described as its efforts to safeguard Manipur’s interests and urged continued action to curb border infiltration and deport “illegal immigrants”.
The ethnic conflict in Manipur involving the majority Meitei community and the minority Kukis began in 2023 after the state’s High Court ordered the government to accept the Meitei demand for Scheduled Tribe status, which, if granted, would have extended economic benefits and job and education quotas meant for marginalised groups like the Kukis to the majority community.
The conflict has left more than 250 people dead so far.
Kuki groups accused Mr Singh, 64, of siding with his Meitei community and demanded his removal after the conflict started. His own allies grew increasingly critical as the conflict continued and several BJP lawmakers sought his resignation over his handling of the crisis.
International human rights organisations accused the state administration as well as Mr Modi’s government of allowing vigilante groups in the state to operate with impunity, stoking ethnic tensions, and failing to uphold law and order.
The BJP governments in New Delhi and Imphal “have utterly failed to end the violence and displacement and protect human rights in the state”, Amnesty International said last year.
Ed Sheeran’s surprise busking performance shut down by police in India
A surprise live performance by Ed Sheeran on the streets of an Indian city was stopped by police who claimed the singer had no permission to be there.
Fans in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, were pleasantly shocked to find the singer performing his hit “Shape of You” with no prior announcement whatsoever on Sunday.
In videos shared on social media, the Grammy-winning musician can be seen walking up to a corner on Church Street and addressing the fans gathered there, telling them he can only stay for “one song”.
The crowd joins in as he begins to sing, but a policeman arrives within seconds and unplugs his microphone.
At the end of the video, Sheeran says to the crowd: “We have permission to be here, but this policeman is shutting us down. But we’ll see you later.”
In the evening, Sheeran posted a statement on his social media, saying: “We had permission to busk, by the way. Hence, us playing in that exact spot was planned out beforehand. It wasn’t just us randomly turning up. All good though. See you at the show tonight x.”
However, the police have denied ever giving permission.
“I refused to give permission because Church Street gets very crowded. That is the reason he was asked to vacate the place,” Bengaluru police official Shekar T Tekkannanavar told news agency ANI.
The Independent has reached out to representatives for Ed Sheeran and the Bengaluru police.
Sheeran is currently on the India leg of his Mathematics Tour, and has performed in Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai. In Chennai, Sheeran was joined on stage by the renowned Indian composer AR Rahman, where the two performed Rahman’s 1994 Tamil song “Urvasi” from the soundtrack of Kadhalan.
Sheeran performed two shows in Bengaluru on 8 and 9 February after an additional show was added due to a huge demand for tickets. He brought with him on stage Indian singer Shilpa Rao, performing the popular song “Chuttamalle” in its original Telugu.
Videos of Sheeran busking, which have gone viral on social media, received mixed reactions from fans. While some were unhappy that his impromptu performance was shut down, many commended the police for doing so, citing safety precautions.
“The reason that cop shut down Ed Sheeran wasn’t to prevent pandemonium on church street or maintain order on a busy Sunday or anything. It’s the same reason we can’t read in Cubbon Park or visit any public park outside of morning walk hours or hold hands anywhere. Because we live in an uncleocracy. And there’s nothing uncles love more than to stop young people from having fun,” said one social media user.
“Cry about VIP treatment throughout the year and then cry some more when police doesn’t allow Ed Sheeran to perform on the already crowded streets of Bengaluru without permission,” said another.
Bengaluru, also known as India’s IT capital, regularly sees traffic snarls during peak travel times, with commuters often waiting hours for roads to clear up. According to the 2024 global traffic index report by Dutch location technology firm Tom Tom that was released earlier this year, the city was ranked third slowest.
According to the report, the average travel time to go 10km in Bengaluru was 30 minutes and 10 seconds, 50 seconds over the time it took in 2023.