Andhra Pradesh Police Invoke UAPA Against YouTuber Prashna Ravan; Remanded to Nellore Jail

The legal and political storm surrounding social media activist and YouTuber Bachalakuri Joseph, popularly known as Prashna Ravan, has shocked many people in Andhra Pradesh after he was arrested five times within a single week. Ravan runs a well-known political commentary channel named "Prashna" where he regularly uploads videos questioning and criticising the state government. The entire trouble started on June 28, 2026, when he gave an aggressive and provocative public speech against Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan during a meeting held in Eluru. Following this speech, leaders of the ruling alliance filed multiple criminal complaints against him at various police stations across the state, triggering a series of continuous arrests.

The initial phase of his arrest turned into a dramatic game of hide-and-seek between the police and the courts because Ravan was repeatedly re-arrested the exact moment he secured his freedom. He was first picked up by the Pithapuram police from his home in Hyderabad on June 30 and was brought to Kakinada district. Over the next four days, police teams from Sarpavaram, Payakaraopeta, and Machilipatnam stepped in one after another. Every time a local magistrate granted him bail or rejected a police complaint due to a lack of strong evidence, another police team was waiting right outside the court gates to arrest him again on a completely separate case. One of these cases even accused him of illegally using school children in a video about caste discrimination. Ravan secured bail four consecutive times, and this pattern of repeated arrests drew heavy criticism from prominent public figures who accused the ruling government of using the police for political revenge.

The legal battle took a very dangerous turn during his fifth arrest when the Gannavaram police in Krishna district took over the case. A local political leader filed a fresh complaint pointing to a video uploaded by Ravan back in November 2025. The police alleged that in this specific video, the YouTuber openly praised a highly wanted commander of the banned Communist Party of India Maoist group named Hidma. Investigators claimed that Ravan was using his social media platform to promote extreme Naxal ideology, support an armed rebellion against the government, and radicalize local youth and students.

Because of these extreme allegations, the police moved away from normal speech-related violations and invoked the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, which is a very strict national anti-terror law. They also added heavy sections of the new criminal code, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, charging him with serious offenses like waging war against the Government of India and endangering national sovereignty. Unlike the earlier minor cases where he easily walked away on bail, the addition of the anti-terror law fundamentally blocked his chances of immediate release.

Following a long and intense court hearing that lasted until late Sunday night on July 5, 2026, the judge accepted the seriousness of the new anti-terror charges. The court rejected his bail arguments and ordered that Prashna Ravan be sent to fourteen days of judicial custody. He was immediately shifted to the Nellore Central Prison to serve his remand until July 18. While Ravan’s wife and his legal team strongly deny all links to any extremist groups and maintain that the state is manipulating old videos simply to silence a critical voice, the police are now moving forward to get his custody to deeply check his digital accounts, phone records, and background networks.