#ArrestSudhirChaudhury trends, police complaint filed

The Aadivasi Sena in Jharkhand filed a police complaint against TV journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, accusing him of making casteist remarks on air after the Enforcement Directorate arrested former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam on Wednesday, 1 February.

The Aaj Tak anchor made the allegedly objectionable comments on his primetime show Black and White, which aired on 31 January.

The complaint was filed against Chaudhary at Ranchi police station under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, while #ArrestSudhirChaudhury was trending on X (formerly Twitter) most of 2 February, Thursday.  

Chaudhury is no stranger to courting controversy with his provocative views, having earlier been booked by the Kerala Police for spreading religious animosity when we worked with Zee News.

According to a Newslaundry report, Chaudhary asked whether the Soren family should be “given reservation” or get any benefits of the SC/ST Act. 

On what would turn out to be the eve of Soren's arrest and the day that an ED raid was in action at the JMM chief's Delhi residence, Chaudhury said that for the former Jharkhand chief minister, a night in jail would be like going back by “20, 30, 40 years like an Adivasi to the jungle”, the report said.

“Where will he spend tonight? He is accustomed to a lavish lifestyle. But today, in a way, it will be like going back by 20, 30, 40 years like an Adivasi to the jungle. It will be a tough night,” Newslaundry reports Chaudhary as saying in Hindi.

Hemant Soren became the third chief minister of Jharkhand to have been arrested. Before him, his father Shibu Soren as well as Madhu Koda have each been arrested.