Indian YouTuber Sumit Verma detained by police for 'kissing prank'

Indian YouTuber Sumit Verma, who faced massive backlash on social media after posting his "kissing prank" video, was detained by Gurugram crime branch on Friday. The police had filed an FIR on Monday in connection with the case, after the youth, going by the nickname 'The Crazy Sumit', posted objectionable 'prank' videos on YouTube. The videos showed him kissing random women without their consent and running away. 

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The video, which had come right after the Bengaluru New Year molestation cases, had riled Indians, and many of them dubbed Verma as a 'pervert'. Though he posted an apology video later, people said that an apology was not enough and that they wanted to see him jailed. 

The police first sought legal opinion to decide the sections under which Verma could be charged since none of the women in the videos filed any complaint. 

An FIR was filed under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 of IT Act (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form), Delhi Police spokesperson Dependra Pathak had said earlier. 

Facebook and YouTube had told the Delhi Police that Verma's data can only be shared with them if an FIR was registered. 

"Now that an FIR has been registered, it will be easy for the investigating officer (IO) to approach the service providers, including YouTube and Facebook, to identify the source through which the video was uploaded," the officer had said.

Verma, who ran a channel called 'The Crazy Sumit' had uploaded the video saying that it was the "Funniest Indian YouTube prank of 2017". 

He was denounced by fellow YouTubers, who condemned him for assaulting unsuspecting women and monetising even his apology video. 

Investigators had gone through his Facebook profile to gain details about his whereabouts. They had asked Facebook to share the login details of his profile.