The Hyderabad Police on Wednesday arrested two journalists for a YouTube video allegedly critical of Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

Revathi Pogadadanda (44), the managing director of the YouTube channel Pulse Digital News Network, and employee Tanvi Yadav (25), alias Bandi Sandhya, were arrested in connection with an allegedly derogatory video shot at the headquarters of the Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

They were remanded to 14-day judicial custody, The Indian Express reported. The police action was based on a complaint filed by a worker of the state’s ruling Congress party.

The police alleged that Pogadadanda and Yadav were involved in “social media trolling” and had been allegedly connected to two other cases.

The first information report was registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita about statements conducing to public mischief, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, organised crime and criminal conspiracy, and under provisions of the Information Technology Act about transmitting obscene material.

Two laptops, hard disks, among other gadgets, were seized by the police from the Pulse News office.

The complainant alleged that in the video widely shared online, the YouTube channel had interviewed a person, provoking the allegedly derogatory and abusive statements about the chief minister, The Indian Express reported.

A third person was also detained for sharing the video on social media, the Hindustan Times quoted unidentified police officers as saying.

P Viswaprasad, the additional commissioner of police (crimes and SIT), said that the video had been shot in February and was released on Monday, ahead of the Budget Session of the Assembly, “as per an orchestrated plan to insult, defame and abuse” the chief minister.

“The content of the video is vulgar, derogatory, insulting, and abusive, crossing all levels of decency,” The Indian Express quoted Viswaprasad as saying. “The accused have been doing this repeatedly and posting on social media for fame and views.”

The person who was interviewed and who had made the allegedly derogatory remarks about Reddy would also be identified and booked, the police said.

“The YouTube channel has been operational for the last two months, and as part of a plan, the reporter has been provoking people to hurl abuses at the CM,” he alleged.

The police officer said that there was evidence that the two women had “received monetary incentives” from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

Jakkula Laxman, a lawyer representing the journalists, told The Indian Express that her clients had been arrested for doing their job.

“They interviewed a common man who was angry with the government and put it on their channel,” Laxman said. “They were well within their right to do so.”

The police misbehaved with the two women, the lawyer alleged, adding that the judge had “taken note of the police excesses”.

Opposition, news association criticise arrests

The Opposition and the Editors Guild of India questioned the Telangana government for arresting the two journalists.

KT Rama Rao, the working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, said that the arrest of journalists “who posted a video of a farmer expressing the hardships he faces under the Congress government is the culmination of this government’s restrictive rule”.

“There is no freedom of the media under public rule!” Rao said on social media. “Is this the constitutional rule that Rahul Gandhi is talking about?”

The Editors Guild urged the Telangana government to ensure that any action taken against the journalists follows due process and upholds the principles of free expression and justice.

“The arrest of a journalist - particularly in a pre-dawn operation - raises serious concerns about the use of police force in such matters,” the guild said.

The Congress defended the police’s action, claiming that the officers had gathered “enough evidence against the two YouTubers”.

“Revathi and her team have links with the BRS and have been, since the past two months, propagating the social media content of the BRS party,” state Congress leader Manavata Rai told The Indian Express.

Rai added: “In this social media content, the police have gathered evidence that there are derogatory comments and untruths which are being spread to hoodwink the common people. They have also been spreading defamatory content. The two were arrested for violating several sections of the IT Act and BNS.”