Sena workers tonsure man for criticising Thackeray

A local Shiv Sena leader has been booked by Wadala TT police for leading an attack on a 33-year-old man for posting remarks against chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

A local Shiv Sena leader has been booked by Wadala TT police for leading an attack on a 33-year-old man for posting remarks against chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

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Sena workers led by Samadhan Jugdar assaulted Wadala resident Hirmani alias Rahul Tiwari and tonsured his head on Sunday, for criticising Thackeray’s stance on the police crackdown at Jamia Millia Islamia University and for mocking him in an online post.

Last week, in response to the police action in the university campus against students who were protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens, Thackeray had said that the BJP government in the Centre had created a Jallianwala Bagh-like situation in the Capital. This prompted Tiwari to criticise Thackeray on social media, which angered Sena workers.

On Monday, following a social media uproar, Wadala police registered a case against Jugdar and his associates under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for assault, intimidation, and criminal behaviour. In a separate case, police have also booked Tiwari on charges of defamation.

Jugdar’s associates claimed that after the police allegedly failed to take cognisance of their complaint against Tiwari’s derogatory post, they decided to matters into their own hands. On Sunday, close to 25 Sena workers dragged Tiwari out of his house in Wadala and assaulted him. They then used an electric shaver to tonsure him.

Jugdar, who led the workers in the attack against Tiwari, claimed their actions were justified.

“We will not tolerate anyone insulting our leader. We had asked Tiwari to delete the post but he did not listen to us. We had to show him his place by using Sena style,” he said.

Following the attack, Tiwari filed a complaint at Wadala TT police station against the Shiv Sena workers. He alleged that soon after he posted his criticism of Thackeray online, he started getting negative responses to the post and later deleted it.

“I realised that the comment was not in good taste but assaulting [me] in such a way is not good either,” said Tiwari. “I just aired my views. If they had a problem, they should have taken legal recourse instead of taking law in their own hands,” he said.

On Monday, Tiwari and the Sena workers submitted letters to the Wadala TT police, stating that they had settled the dispute amicably and did not intend to pursue the matter further.

However, the police decided to file charges against both parties. The attack on Tiwari took place less than a week after Thackeray had advised his party workers at Nagpur to behave responsibly since the party is now in power.