Who is Dhruv Rathee, the YouTuber summoned by India court in defamation case?
Famous Indian YouTuber Dhruv Rathee
Who is Dhruv Rathee?Dhruv, one of the most famous Indian YouTubers, has been summoned by an Indian court after a defamation case was filed against the influencer by a BJP leader. The case filed by Suresh Karamshi Nakhua allegesthat Rathee called him a violent and abusive troll in a video posted by him. But who is Dhruv Rathee and why is he considered important?
The YouTube journey of Dhruv Rathee
Rathee is a 29-year-old Europe-based computer engineer and influencer. Apart from content creation, he teaches online courses on artificial intelligence apps like ChatGPT.
Rathee started his YouTube channel while studying for a computer science course in Germany. In the initial years, he mostly documented his travels, speaking mainly in Hindi.
Later, he started explainer videos on a multitude of subjects ranging from science, technology, history and the business world. He used to comment occasionally on politically sensitive subjects, like during the farmers' protests of 2020 and the release of the controversial film Kerala Story.
Also read:Delhi court summons YouTuberDhruv Ratheein defamation case
But closer to the general elections in India this year, his channel took a political pivot and started sharing videos explicitly critical of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its ideological font RSS or Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh.
He did a series of videos alleging that the Modi government was showing signs of dictatorship, an allegation that the opposition parties led by Rahul Gandhi's Congress lapped up during the election campaign.
While Rathee himself operated mainly from Europe, his political videos gained traction across social media platforms in India. At least some of them were shown on big screens in several cities and towns. Besides the YouTube channel, during the election season this summer, Rathee also created a WhatsApp channel, directly addressing his millions of followers to vote against the incumbent government. He also made his presence felt in Facebook, Instagram and X.
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Soon, Rathee started getting threats, as he claimed in his videos, and his critics challenged him to come to India. He did come to India during the elections and posted pictures from India Gate in the capital New Delhi.
Born and brought up in the north Indian state of Haryana, Rathee comes from a family of farmers and soldiers, while his father is an engineer.
He married Juli Lbr, a German in 2021 after seven years of relationship, and is expecting a baby with her in September.
He has a separate travel vlog channel on YouTube.
The court case of Dhruv Rathee
The Saket Court in Indian capital Delhi issued the order to summon Rathee on July 19, on a complaint by Nakhua, who is a BJP spokesperson in the western city of Mumbai. The district judge Gunjan Gupta set August 6 as the date of hearing in the case.
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Nakhua claimed in his petition that that Rathee “made bold and unsubstantiated claims” in one of his videos, which hurt his reputation. The complaint said that in the "cunningly crafted video, a deliberate campaign was made to besmirch his integrity and reputation while adding "baseless accusations and malicious connections are artfully insinuated."
(With inputs from agencies)
