TNI Bureau: The recent arrest of two girls for anti-Bal Thackeray post on social networking site Facebook raised eyebrows of many politicians and social activists. While the police action was termed illegal by the Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, the girls, who were arrested, apologised and feared for their safety.
Even the girl, who had posted the status against shutdown of Mumbai that mourned on the demise of Bal Thackeray, deactivated her Facebook account out of fear. The female user, who had liked the post, apologised saying hurting anyone’s sentiment was not their intention.
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Mumbail police was largely criticised for arresting two girls on charges of hurting religious sentiments. One girl was arrested for Facebook status update which reportedly read- ‘People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a bandh for that.’ Another girl had liked the status.
The police action drew widespread criticism from the politicians and social activists, who said that the act is a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed to each Indian by the Constitution. Kapil Sibal said that the matter was mishandled by the Mumbai police.
Meanwhile, IAC activist Arvind Kejriwal posted on his Twitter, “police, who arrested the girls, should be dismissed”. Activist Kiran Bedi also said, “The complaint was wrong, Magistrate was wrong, the police were equally wrong.”