Explainer: Who is Biriyani Man? Why is he arrested?

Biriyani Man is the pseudonym used by a twenty-nine-year-old Tamil YouTuber, Abishek Rafi. He is constantly in the news for making allegedly controversial content. His YouTube channel, which has over 4 lakh followers, has over 300 videos with 94.75 million views.

Why is he in trouble now?

The Chennai cyber crime police arrested him and he is currently in custody. This is after a woman filed a complaint that he had made indecent remarks about women in a video and for demeaning the park Semmozhi Poonga. Three months ago, in a post titled 'OYO vs Semmozhi Poonga', Rafi allegedly made lewd comments that the park is being used by couples and made some remarks allegedly demeaning women and the park. After which, the Chennai woman, who goes for walks in the park filed a complaint. She also claimed that she goes to the park very often for walks.

Under what acts has he been booked under?

Rabi faces charges under sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, IT Act, Indecent representation of women Act 1986 and The Sexual Harassment of Women Act, 2013. According to the police they asked people to stand against online harassment and promote a safer digital environment.

What is the other case that was booked against him recently?

Rabi, who has over 43,500 Instagram followers attempted to take his life on camera. An user shared the video on X and asked to arrest Biriyani Man. “Open suicide attempt on youtube. So many kids are watching all these he is setting a bad example for kids who can be easily influenced through youtube.” The user requested the TN police to take strict action on what they described as “trigger content”.

On July 29, Rabi had attempted to die by suicide during a three-hour-long live stream after a verbal spat between him and YouTuber and food vlogger Irfan. Viewers alerted his relatives and they stopped him

What kind of content does this digital creator put out?

Rabi once talking about dating and finding a match on dating apps said, “They (women) usually have extreme ego and they have to initiate the conversation in the app. Would that even happen, how? Just send a Hi, I will take care of the rest and correct you.”