About the Human Rights Defender Mr. Chetan Kumar also known as Chetan Ahimsa, is a Kannada human rights defender and film actor. An American citizen and a Fulbright scholar, Chetan Kumar is a Dalit rights activist and has supported progressive youth and student organizations, women's collectives, farmers' groups, trade unions, and Dalit and Adivasi movements for equality and justice. His social work/activism includes participating in India against Corruption, Anti-Superstition, LGBTQIA, Lake Rejuvenation, "I am Gauri" campaign”. He is the founder of the Chetan foundation.

Details of the Incident: On February 16, 2022, Mr. Chetan Kumar re-tweeted his old tweet about justice Krishna Dixit who had granted pre-arrest bail in an alleged rape case. On June 27, 2020, he had tweeted, “This week KA (Karnataka) High Court Justice Krishna Dixit granted (granted) pre-arrest bail to rape-accused Rakesh B claiming ‘it is unbecoming of Indian woman to sleep after rape; that is not way women react when they are ravished.’ What’s ‘unbecoming’ is 21st c (century) misogyny of this judiciary Dixit fossil. It is noteworthy that the comments of Justice Dixit were later deleted from the order after they resulted in outrage and were described as regressive. Re-tweeting the same, on February 16, 2022, he tweeted, “This is a tweet I wrote nearly two years ago regarding a Karnataka High Court decision. Justice Krishna Dixit made such disturbing comments in a rape case. Now this same judge is determining whether #hijabs are acceptable or not in govt schools. Does he have the clarity required?” On February 19, 2022, Mr. Chetan Kumar participated and tweeted in support of a massive citizen rally demanding action against a Karnataka district judge who had allegedly ordered the removal of B.R. Ambedkar’s portrait. On February 22, 2022 the Sheshadripuram police station registered a Suo motu FIR (No. 0040/2020) against Mr. Chetan Kumar under sections 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace).

On February 22, Mr. Chetan Kumar went missing from his house. In the evening the police issued a statement, announcing that Kumar had been arrested for his tweet under “Intent to incite a class or community to commit offence against another class or community” and for “intentionally insulting, thereby giving provocation to any person to break public peace” of the Indian Penal Code. Mr Kumar's wife Megha held a live chat on Facebook and alleged that the actor "had gone missing from the house", "No one informed us [about his arrest], his phone is switched off, so is our gunman's [bodyguard]," She also alleged that when she went to the Sheshadripuram police station to get information they did not give her any information for four hours.