NEW DELHI: Ruchika Singh, the Noida resident accused of using abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led Jantar Mantar protest, has said she was encouraged by people at the demonstration to speak out.Ruchika, however, says she now regrets her remarks.In her latest statement, Singh said she was told that something wrong was happening and that she had the freedom to express herself.“They said, ‘Say whatever you want to say.’ They told me that something wrong was happening and that I had the freedom to speak. Then I said those things. What I said was very wrong. I apologised, and I will continue to apologise until my apology is accepted,” she said.The statement comes days after Singh posted an apology video in which she claimed she was 15 years old and had been influenced by fellow protesters.
‘I got influenced’
In the earlier video, Singh said she had gone to Connaught Place with a friend when she came across the protest.She claimed that people at the gathering were abusing the Prime Minister and that she was influenced after being asked to say something herself.Singh said she subsequently made vulgar remarks but insisted that it was her first and last such mistake. She also said she had not posted the video herself and apologised to the nation with folded hands.However, her claim about her age and circumstances came under scrutiny.Police and residents cited by TOI said Singh lived with her family in Faridabad and had been living at a Noida housing society for several years.
Zero FIR transferred to Delhi
The controversy had triggered a police case after a Zero FIR was registered on a complaint by a Ghaziabad lawyer.The FIR invoked BNS Sections 352, 353(1) and 356(1), relating to intentional insult, public mischief and defamation.Since the alleged remarks were made in Delhi, the case was transferred from Noida to the Delhi Police Special Cell.Delhi Police had also registered a separate FIR over the circulation of the alleged derogatory content and issued notices to X seeking its removal.
PM Modi appeals against punitive action
The episode also prompted Prime Minister Modi to intervene.In an Instagram video, he described the abuse directed at him and his late mother as a “cultural shock” but appealed for restraint.Modi said young people involved in the incident should be embraced rather than punished, arguing that prolonged court proceedings and criminal cases would not address the larger issue.CJP spokesperson Saurav Das and founder Abhijeet Dipke have separately criticised the police action, arguing that profanity should not automatically result in criminal cases.
