London: An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after a UK court found a video he posted on social media to be offensive to certain communities.
The 68-year-old Amrik Bajwa, from Berkshire in southeast England, pleaded guilty to one count of sending by public communication network an offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message or matter, reported PTI.
The judge fined him 240 British pounds and handed him the prison sentence last week.
“Following a Thames Valley Police investigation, a man has been sentenced for sending an offensive message using social media,” the police said in a statement.
Bajwa posted the video on TikTok, reportedly targeting the Dalit community, on July 19 last year.
Bajwa was arrested on July 22 and charged via postal requisition on March 2, 2023.
Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA), a human rights organisation which campaigns against caste-based discrimination in the UK, was among the complainants about the “casteist” post which it said was hate speech directed at Dalit communities.
“The 18 weeks sentence in jail reflects the severity of the harm Amrik Bajwa’s video caused the Dalit community,” said an ACDA spokesperson.
“We understand the conviction did not specifically refer to ‘caste’ because caste is not yet a protected characteristic in law. But the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS) shared at the hearing the derogatory words ‘choora’ and ‘chaamar’ that Bajwa used. The video that Amrik Singh Bajwa posted on TikTok in 2022 was highly toxic and casteist in content,” the spokesperson added.
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