Bombay HC asks woman booked for abusing Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya Thackeray to appear before cyber cell

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed Sunaina Holey, a resident of Navi Mumbai, booked by the Mumbai and Palghar Police for posting offensive remarks on

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed Sunaina Holey, a resident of Navi Mumbai, booked by the Mumbai and Palghar Police for posting offensive remarks on social media against chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray and state minister Aaditya Thackeray in July, to appear before the cyber cell of Mumbai Police at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) on November 2. Holey had approached the HC to quash the first information reports (FIRs) against her.

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Earlier, the HC had directed a Nagpur resident Sameet Thakkar, who was booked under similar charges, to cooperate with the investigation and appear before the cyber cell at BKC as well.

A division bench of justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik, while hearing the application by Holey to quash the three FIRs registered against her, was informed by assistant public prosecutor JP Yagnik for the state government and police, that the FIRs were registered after several persons, including Rohan Chavan, a member of the Yuva Sena had lodged complaints against her for offensive remarks made against the CM and Aaditya.

Apart from the offensive remarks against the CM and his son between July 25 and 28, Holey had also shared a morphed caricature of the father-son duo.

Yagnik submitted that though Holey had been issued notices under section 41-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), she had not appeared before the concerned investigating officer at the BKC cyber police station in Mumbai. Hence, he sought directions of the court to make her do so at the earliest.

Advocate Dr Abhinav Chandrachud who represented Holey, however, said that his client was unwell and could not appear on the earlier occasion, but was willing to report to the BKC cyber cell on November 2. The court accepted the same and asked her to be present at 11am.

In September, Holey had moved the court seeking protection in the form of an application for pre-arrest bail. The court had, however, refused to grant her protection after police assured the court that she would not be arrested if she was willing to cooperate and report to the Azad Maidan and Tulinj police stations. After she failed to report to the said police stations, investigators sought her presence at the BKC cyber cell.

After hearing the submissions and accepting an assurance of Holey, the court observed, “The job of police officers is difficult during these times. Sometimes they have more than 12-hour shifts. Then they have to do bandobast for morchas and processions. With all these odds, Mumbai Police is considered one of the best in the world after Scotland Yard.” In light of this, the bench observed that Holey was expected to extend cooperation, which Dr Chandrachud agreed to.

The court posted further hearing on the plea to November 23 and said that if there was any urgency, the petitioner was at liberty to move to the appropriate court seeking relief.