On November 27-28, 2025, a small-time YouTuber from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, named Shadab Jakati (runs a low-subscriber prank/social-experiment channel) was arrested after a 42-second video went viral on WhatsApp and Instagram showing him harassing a teenage girl on a busy market street with highly sexual and crude questions.
Meerut, November 28, 2025 – A small-time YouTuber from western Uttar Pradesh found himself in serious trouble on Thursday when police picked him up over a video that has been doing the rounds on WhatsApp and Instagram for the last couple of days. Shadab Jakati, who runs a channel with a few thousand subscribers and is known for street pranks and “social experiments”, was arrested by Incholi police in Meerut after a local resident filed a complaint saying the content was downright obscene and involved a minor girl.
In the 42-second clip that triggered the whole episode, Jakati is seen approaching a group of women and a teenage girl on a busy market street. What starts as a normal “interview” quickly turns ugly. Jakati can be heard asking the minor highly inappropriate questions about her personal life and making lewd remarks that left the girl visibly uncomfortable and the women around her angry. Someone in the crowd apparently shot the video on their phone, and within hours it was circulating with captions like “Youtuber gone too far” and “Shame on such creators”.
Anees, a shopkeeper from Incholi who saw the video being forwarded in multiple WhatsApp groups, decided enough was enough. He went straight to the police station and lodged an FIR under Section 296 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (obscene acts and songs) and Section 67 of the IT Act (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form). “These people think they can say anything for views. There was a small girl involved. How is this entertainment?” Anees later told local reporters outside the thana.
By Thursday afternoon, a police team reached Jakati’s rented flat in Lisari Gate area and took him into custody. Station House Officer Jitendra Kumar Tripathi confirmed the arrest to the media: “We have registered the case on the complaint and arrested the accused. The video is indeed objectionable, especially because a minor is involved. Investigation is on.
Interestingly, Jakati didn’t spend even a night behind bars. His lawyer reached the police station with surety papers, and by late Thursday evening he walked out on station bail. Sources inside the thana say the police granted him bail because the sections applied are bailable and no additional complaints had come in till then.
As soon as he stepped out, Jakati posted a short video on his Instagram story (which he later deleted) claiming the whole thing was a “misunderstanding” and that the video was heavily edited. He said the girl in the video was actually 19 years old and part of his team, something the complainant and several people who have seen the unedited version strongly dispute.
Local people, however, are not buying the apology. “We have seen the full video. The girl looks scared and keeps saying she wants to leave. This is not content, this is harassment,” said Rukhsar, a college student who studies in the same area where the video was shot.
This incident has once again opened the debate about where to draw the line between “pranks” and outright harassment on social media. Over the last year, Uttar Pradesh Police have taken action against several small-time YouTubers for similar stunts – remember the Acid Attack Prank case in Ghaziabad and the Fake Kidnapping series in Noida that landed creators in jail?
Women’s rights activists in Meerut say the quick bail in such cases sends a wrong message. “When the victim is a minor and the content is sexual in nature, bail should not be so easy. These influencers know the sections are bailable, so they take risk after risk,” said Advocate Sana Khan, who runs an NGO for online safety of women.
For now, Shadab Jakati is back home, but the police say the investigation is still on. They are trying to identify the exact age of the girl and whether more people were part of making the video. If it is proved that a minor was indeed involved and harassed, stricter sections under POCSO could be added later.
One thing is clear – in today’s age, that “record” button on every phone can make or break careers in minutes. What these creators call content can very quickly become evidence in a criminal case.
Source: PTI report dated Nov 27, statements of Incholi SHO Jitendra Tripathi, complainant Anees, and ground reporting from Meerut.
