Vikas Fhatak aka ‘Hindustani Bhau’ arrested by Mumbai Police for ‘instigating’ students

New Delhi: Dharavi Police on Tuesday arrested two people including social media influencer Vikas Fhatak, also known as ‘Hindustani Bhau’ for allegedly instigating students to protest to demand online exams for classes 10th and 12th in view of COVID-19.

The second accused arrested has been identified as Iqrar Khan Vakhar Khan. In a video posted by Hindustani Bhau’, he allegedly asked the students to assemble in the Dharavi area near the residence of Maharashtra education minister Varsha Gaikwad to protest.

In the video, he could be heard saying, “Many deaths took place due to COVID-19. People have not come out of its fear, now the Omicron variant has come. The government itself is saying to stay at home and take precautions.”

He had said that the professors are also holding meetings via online mode, so why the risk is being taken with children’s health by taking offline exams.

 

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A post shared by Hindustani bhau (@hindustanibhausarkar)

“I would like to request you (government) to cancel the offline exams. If not then, my students and I would take to protest at the doorstep of the Varsha Gaikwad. I won’t stop until they get justice…,” Bhau said in the video.

After the video went viral, students staged a protest outside State School Education Minster Professor Varsha Eknath Gaikwad’s residence in Maharashtra’s Mumbai, against offline exams.
The protesting students demand online exams for classes 10 and 12 in view of the COVID-19 situation.

Mumbai: Social media influencer Vikas Fhatak, also known as ‘Hindustani Bhau’, arrested by Dharavi Police in connection with students’ protest in Dharavi y’day over their demand for online exams for classes 10th & 12th, in view of #COVID19. FIR registered against Fhatak & others.

— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2022

An FIR has been registered against Fhatak and Khand under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code.