The Mumbai Police have registered a case against a person for posting derogatory remarks on chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, his son and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray and energy minister Nitin Raut on Twitter.
The accused, Nagpur resident Sameet Thakkar, on June 1, June 30 and July 1, tweeted objectionable posts about Thackerays and Raut. In one such tweet Thakkar called Uddhav ‘Aurangzeb’ and Aaditya (his) ‘Penguin beta’, states the complaint.
The objectionable posts shared by Thakkar, who has over 42,700 followers on the microblogging site, were viewed, liked and shared by thousands of Twitterati. Many prominent political figures, including @narendramodi, follow him on the site.
However, Mumbai-based advocate Dharmendra Mishra, who is also legal consultant for Shiv Sena, saw the posts and registered a complaint against Thakkar with the VP Road police station on July 13.
Another 21-year-old city-based woman also approached the police with a similar complaint saying she found Thakkar’s posts vulgar and obscene. The police recorded her statement and incorporated it in the first information report (FIR) filed against Thakkar.
Mishra said, “There has to be some limit while you use your democratic rights to criticise someone. You cannot simply abuse anyone publicly, using foul and vulgar language. I had informed Thakkar to stop posting such derogatory content about respected political figures. But he didn’t stop and continued doing so. Hence, I lodged a complaint against him.”
{{/usCountry}}Mishra said, “There has to be some limit while you use your democratic rights to criticise someone. You cannot simply abuse anyone publicly, using foul and vulgar language. I had informed Thakkar to stop posting such derogatory content about respected political figures. But he didn’t stop and continued doing so. Hence, I lodged a complaint against him.”
{{/usCountry}}When contacted, Thakkar said, “I have just used strong language which is not unconstitutional in any manner. If my posts were abusive why has Twitter not taken them down? I just used my democratic rights to criticise the government. When VP Road police officers contacted me I told them that I would be able to visit the police station later as the lockdown is in effect and I sent my statement to the commissioner of police and DCP through email.”
The police have booked Thakkar under sections 292 (obscene acts or words in public), 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.
Police are further investigating the case and are collecting electronic evidences.
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