The Forest authorities arrested a YouTuber on Sunday for allegedly uploading a video on “peacock curry recipe” on his channel on Saturday in Rajanna Sircilla district of Telangana.
According to a report by news agency PTI, citing a forest official, based on preliminary inquiry, the YouTuber Kodam Pranaykumar apparently resorted to the act to garner more views for his Sri TV channel.
The report said that upon receiving information that the man had posted a video on his channel on how to cook peacock curry, a team of forest officials reached the YouTuber’s house in Tangallapalli village, inspected the place where he cooked the curry, and shot the video.
The YouTuber reportedly told the Forest Department officials that he had prepared a chicken curry and uploaded the video, titled ‘Traditional Peacock Curry’ on YouTube to get more views.
Media reports said that the Forest Department had sent Pranay's blood samples and curry samples for testing. If the test proved positive for peacock meat, the authorities would take stringent action against him.
“A case has been registered under BNS sections, and the strictest action will be taken against him and others who indulge in such activities,” Rajanna Sircilla SP Akhil Mahajan said in a post on social media platform X.
The video sparked outrage among wildlife conservationists and viewers. After animal rights activists raised the issue, it was deleted from his YouTube channel.
Any act that promotes the killing of wildlife animals or birds attracts penal action.
In India, the peacock is a national bird and is a Schedule I species, protected under the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2022. It means that the peacock has the highest level of protection under the law.
Many videos are uploaded to YouTube, showing cooking videos of wild animals such as pigs, monitor lizards, and wild boars.
