Man assaulted by five over Instagram post

Young man attacked by five assailants in Thane after confronting them for calling him 'gay' on Instagram. Case registered, investigation ongoing.

THANE: A young man was attacked by five assailants on the street when he confronted one of them as to why he called him ‘gay’ in his Instagram post. The incident occurred in the Vasant Valley area in Kalyan West.

HT Image

The Khadakpada police station swiftly registered a case against the five attackers, identified as Viraj Purohit, Aditya Ramane, Ankesh Mishra, Ishant Jadhav, and an individual known only by the name Appa, whose full name remains undisclosed at present.

According to the police, the injured man lives with his family in Malhar Complex in Kalyan West. Over the past few days, the accused had been taunting the complainant regarding his social media posts. Two days ago, they collectively referred to him as “gay” in their responses to his Instagram posts. All of them posted similar replies to one of his posts.

According to the officials, when the complainant confronted the five about their replies to his Instagram post on Tuesday evening and sought to know why they referred to him as gay, they engaged in an argument with him. Later, the situation escalated, and they started beating him up. As a result, the complainant suffered a fracture to his nose and a serious chest injury in the assault. He was taken to the hospital by some members of the society.

Senior police inspector Amarnath Waghmode of the Khadakpada police station said, “On the complaint filed by the boy’s mother, a case has been registered against the five miscreant youths at the Khadakpada police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Further investigation is underway. The young man is currently receiving treatment at the hospital.”