A police complaint has been filed against Indian comedian Vir Das for allegedly defaming India's image in the US and inciting people with his derogatory statements against the country, Indian women, and political leaders.
Das, on Monday, uploaded a video on YouTube with his monologue 'I Come From Two Indias' from a show at John F Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC.
In a seven-minute clip that has taken the internet by storm, the comedian highlights several issues facing the country, be it India's battle against COVID-19, incidents of rape, the crackdown against comedians, or the farmers' protests.
Taking offence to several portions of the comedian's monologue, advocate Ashutosh J Dubey, a practising lawyer at the Bombay High Court and a legal advisor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra state, filed a police complaint against Das on Tuesday night.
Dubey tweeted a copy of his complaint and accused Das of projecting the phenomenon of worshipping female deities in India as a mere gimmick where otherwise the heinous crime of rape against women is carried out.
Statements such as "I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them during the night," triggered many netizens, who are expressing their distaste for the comedian on social media.
Reacting to the trolls and hateful comments, Das issued a statement on Tuesday to clarify that the comments in his monologue "I come from two Indias" weren't intended to insult the country.
He said that the video is a satire about the duality of two very separate Indias that do different things.
"Like any nation has light and dark, good and evil within it. None of this is a secret."
Das also wrote that people cheer for the country with hope and not "hate" and asked his followers to not be misled by edited clips.
While some netizens have slammed the comedian for his satirical monologue, several Bollywood celebrities and politicians, as well as other netizens, have been praising him for shedding light on what life is like for hundreds of thousands of India and explaining the two different Indias that exist.
In the past, Das has faced a backlash for cracking jokes around religion, politicians, and other controversial subjects. He has appeared in nearly 100 stand-up comedy gigs as well as six comedy specials.
He also shot to fame in Bollywood for his acting in Hindi films such as 'Delhi Belly', 'Badmaash Company', and 'Go Goa Gone'.