NEW DELHI, AUGUST 31: A fresh video allegedly showing the teenager who was at the centre of a controversy over abusive remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi has triggered a new political row, after the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress shared the clip on social media.
The girl heard in the video allegedly accuses Modi of making her “life hell” and says she will not “back down” despite what she describes as continued harassment following the earlier controversy.
“Modi ji, you have made my life hell,” the woman heard in the video says. “You have hounded a 15-year-old girl so much that she has been tortured everywhere. I have to hide my face everywhere.”
She further says she has “nothing to lose” and would not back down this time, while allegedly calling the Prime Minister a “coward”.
However, the identity and age of the person appearing in the fresh video could not be independently verified.
The teenager’s lawyer, Anil Singh, has reportedly said the video is not AI-generated, but that does not independently establish that the person appearing in the clip is the same teenager involved in the earlier case.
The video began circulating widely on social media on Sunday, with opposition parties using it to renew criticism over the events that followed the teenager’s earlier appearance at a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The AAP shared the video on X, alleging that the teenager had been “hounded, threatened and forced to apologise”, and claimed that the alleged harassment continued even after her apology.
The Congress also shared the clip, alleging that the teenager had been intimidated into apologising and describing the episode as an instance of misuse of power against a minor.
The allegations made by both parties could not be independently verified.
Earlier controversy
The teenager, identified in media reports by the pseudonym Ruchika Singh, first came into the spotlight after a video from a July 23 protest at Jantar Mantar allegedly showed her using abusive and derogatory language against PM Modi and his late mother.
A Zero FIR was subsequently registered at Noida’s Expressway police station on July 29 following a complaint by Supreme Court advocate Smriti Singh Chandel.
The case invoked Sections 352, 353(1) and 356(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, relating to intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace, statements conducing to public mischief and defamation. The case was later transferred to Delhi for investigation.
A separate video purportedly showing the teenager apologising with folded hands also went viral at the time. In it, she expressed regret over her remarks and sought forgiveness.
PM Modi subsequently said that young people involved in the controversy should be forgiven rather than subjected to punitive action, and urged society to give them another opportunity.
Singh had earlier claimed that the girl was 15 years old and studying in Class 10 through open schooling. He also alleged that the FIR contained incorrect details regarding her age and identity.
According to media reports, the teenager’s mother alleged that police personnel, television reporters and strangers repeatedly visited their rented accommodation in Noida following the controversy.
Sources cited in reports said the family later left their Noida home and is currently staying in Haryana.
The circulation of the fresh video has now brought the controversy back into the political spotlight, with its contents and the circumstances surrounding its release likely to face renewed scrutiny.
