Investigation launched for tweeted Modi photo
Police allege comedian ‘insulted’ prime minister with image posted online
Comedy is huge in India, but that doesn’t mean its prime minister, Narendra Modi, has a sense of humour.
A cyber police squad in Mumbai filed a complaint for defamation and transmitting obscene material Friday against the co-founder of the popular comedy group All India Bakchod (AIB) after the group posted a photo on Twitter of the prime minister with the dog-ear filter from Snapchat.
Police allege the co-founder of the group, Tanmay Bhat, had “insulted” the prime minister, according to a report in the Hindustan Times.
The drama began earlier in the day when a photo of an unknown Indian man who is a dead-ringer for Modi began circulating on social media. AIB, joining in on the meme, added a photo of the prime minister’s face with the Snapchat filter and the words “Dog filter is Lyf.”
Negative reaction from Modi’s online army of supporters was immediate, and the comedy group soon deleted the tweet. But the damage was done.
Bhat responded on Twitter later in the day, saying he was surprised a “silly snapchat filter meme” was getting so much negative attention from both political leaders and online trolls.
“Will continue making jokes. And deleting if necessary. And making jokes again. And Apologizing if necessary. Don’t care what you think,” he wrote.
Online defamation cases against people who target Modi — and politicians from other parties — are not unheard of in India. AIB, which is known for satirical videos posted on its YouTube channel for its 2.3 million subscribers, delights in pushing the envelope. The group issued an apology to the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Bombay over raunchy jibes and pedophilia jokes made during a roast in honour of Bollywood actors in 2015.