Monday, May 20th 02:08 AM IST

Inquiry into arrest of girls over FB comment begins

Nov 20, 2012

Mumbai: The police inquiry into the arrest of two girls for a Facebook post questioning the shutdown in the city for Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray‘s funeral began today even as 10 suspected party activists were arrested for allegedly vandalising a clinic owned by one of the girl’s uncle, in neighbouring Thane district.

The inquiry headed by Inspector General (Konkan Range) Sukhvindar Singh commenced today with the officer visiting the local police station in Palghar. Police said Singh sought details of the FIR copy and police diary after briefly speaking to officers at the police station.

Representational image. Reuters.

The inquiry was ordered by Maharashtra government following the public outrage over the arrest of two girls for posting comments on Facebook.

Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan, both aged 21, were arrested on Monday morning over their post opposing the Mumbai shutdown, but were granted bail after they furnished personal bonds, police said.

Dhada allegedly posted that one should not observe bandh for Thackeray’s funeral. “We should remember Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev,” the post said. Her friend Renu was arrested for ‘liking’ the post.

Protesting Dhada’s post, suspected Shiv Sena workers vandalised the clinic owned by Dhada’s uncle Abdul, a member of the Indian Medical Association.

Palghar police arrested 10 suspected Sena activists and produced them before a local court which granted them bail on a personal bond of Rs 7500 each.

“About 30 to 40 unidentified people are still wanted in the violence case. We will arrest them soon,” said Srikant Pingle, Senior Inspector at Palghar police station.

PTI

Firstpost encourages open discussion and debate, but please adhere to the rules below, before posting. Comments that are found to be in violation of any one or more of the guidelines will be automatically deleted:

Personal attacks/name calling will not be tolerated. This applies to comments directed at the author, other commenters and other politicians/public figures

Please do not post comments that target a specific community, caste, nationality or religion.

While you do not have to use your real name, any commenters using any Firstpost writer's name will be deleted, and the commenter banned from participating in any future discussions.

Comments will be moderated for abusive and offensive language.

Please read our comments and moderation policy before posting