Tag: shaheen dhada

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Free of all charges

Shaheen Dhada and Reenu Shrinivasan have been absolved of all charges in the Facebook arrests case. Court admits closure report.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It was a case that was no case, to begin with. Stating the obvious proved costly for Palghar resident Shaheen Dhada, and agreeing with her, for her friend Reenu Shrinivasan – Shaheen had questioned the total lockdown of Mumbai and surrounding areas on Facebook after the death of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on November 17, 2012. The two girls were arrested and subsequently let out on bail, following a complaint by local Shiv Sena shakha pramukh Bhushan Sankhe.

Today, the girls have been cleared from all charges pertaining to the case. The court admitted the closure report filed by the cops and thus, the two have been cleared from the case.

A round of protests all over the country put the spotlight on the Palghar cops and the Maharashtra Government’s subsequent handling of events. An inquiry into the matter was immediately ordered, and the complaint was found to have no grounds for arrest – it was alleged that the FB post had offended religious sentiments. The investigation officers were suspended and the magistrate who had ordered the arrest was transferred.

In November last year, the Home Department of the Government had asked the police to file a closure report in the case. Palghar police had been asked to initiate the legal process that would result in the case being closed; the report was to be filed in the court. Such a report is filed when investigators conclude that no case can be made against the accused.

(Picture courtesy indiavision.com)

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Diaries

News event of the year

The Palghar Facebook arrests showed us the foolhardy side of police action, thus forcing the Government to make swift reprisals.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It was an innocuous post on Facebook, as most posts go. A student from Palghar, 21-year-old Shaheen Dhada, was upset over the total lockdown of Mumbai and its outlying suburbs after the death of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on November 17, 2012. Taking to Facebook to vent her anger, little did Shaheen know that a simple post questioning the logic behind the shutdown would soon get her arrested.

Similarly unaware of the impending storm was her friend Rinu Srinivasan, also 21 and also a Palghar resident. Rinu ‘liked’ the post.

And there the matter would have rested.

However, the post was brought to the attention of Bhushan Sankhe, Palghar’s Sena shakha pramukh,  who was suitably upset by Shaheen’s remark and Rinu’s appreciation of it. Very soon,  a mob of Shiv Sainiks was mobilised into action, they went to Shaheen’s house, vandalised her uncle’s clinic, and that night, Shaheen and Rinu were arrested.

These arrests marked a watershed moment in a year that saw the imprisonment of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi and the taking down of his website, the jailing of a Kolkata professor after he forwarded a cartoon of Mamata Banerjee over email, the abrupt cutting off of video channels like Vimeo at the hands of entertainment giants like Reliance and the mass blocking of Twitter and Facebook accounts in the aftermath of the Assam violence, to name a few.

The public, already bewildered by the seemingly indiscriminate clampdown on its internet freedom on various pretexts, was pushed past the boiling point after the two girls were arrested. Already furious over being forced to wait out Thackeray’s funeral in their homes, the city erupted in protest after Shaheen and Rinu were not just arrested, but a local magistrate awarded them a 14-day judicial custody term.

Spurred into action by the rising protests, first from Mumbai and then from all over the country, the State Government ordered a probe into the matter, then after the police action was deemed inappropriate and hasty. The girls were finally let off, the charges against them were subsequently dropped, and both the girls are now back on Facebook.

But perhaps the biggest offshoot of the entire incident was that the public, used to not voicing its opinions on the Shiv Sena, went full throttle in its criticism of the party’s strong-arm tactics.

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seek to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Watch out for Personality of the Year tomorrow.

(Picture courtesy indiavision.com) 

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Dhada Hospital remains open despite bandh

Shaheen Dhada’s uncle kept clinic open despite a total shutdown in Palghar. Meanwhile, cops and special security units maintained security.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

True to its word, the Shiv Sena enforced a total bandh in Palghar yesterday, to protest against the suspension of two senior police officials in the Facebook arrests case of two Palghar girls, Shaheen Dhada and her friend Rinu Srinivasan. However, despite a complete lockdown – shops, industrial units and other establishments were closed and transport was off the roads – Shaheen’s uncle, Dr Abdul Dhada, kept his clinic and medical dispensary open. Police personnel were posted outside the clinic to provide security all day.

After Shaheen was pulled up by the Shiv Sena for questioning the shutdown of Mumbai after the demise of Sena chief Bal Thackeray on November 17, 2012, a group of Shiv Sainiks had ransacked Dr Dhada’s clinic. Though the charges against the two girls have been all but dropped and 10 arrests have been made in connection with the vandalism at the clinic, no compensation has been given to Dr Dhada yet.

The rest of Palghar remained indoors, however. Heavy security was deployed all over the area and no untoward incidents were reported. The Shiv Sena yesterday reiterated its demand that the State revoke the two police officers’ suspension.

(Picture courtesy rediff.com)

 

 

 

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Sena to keep Palghar closed

Protest against action against cops who arrested two Palghar girls for Facebook post. Transport, shops likely to remain shut today.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Yesterday, Superintendent of Police (Thane rural) Ravindra Shengaonkar and Senior Inspector Shrikant Pingle were suspended in the Palghar Facebook arrests case. After the arrest of Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Srinivasan (Shaheen had questioned the shutdown of Mumbai after the demise of Sena chief Bal Thackeray and Rinu had ‘liked’ the post), the Inspector General (Konkan range) Sukhwinder Singh prepared and submitted a report on the matter, and said that the three officers in the case had acted with impropriety.

However, despite the egg on its face still fresh, the Shiv Sena in Palghar is in no mood to back down in the matter – even though the case against the 10 Sena men accused of vandalising Shaheen’s uncle’s clinic will now be pursued with fresh intent – and has announced that there would be a bandh in Palghar to protest the action against the police officers. The Sena is also miffed with the fact that all charges against Shaheen and Rinu will be dropped.

Adding fuel to this fire, the Palghar Bar Association has also called for a strike to protest against the transfer of magistrate BR Bagade.

Bhushan Sankhe, Sena shakha pramukh in Palghar who filed the complaint against the girls, has told a city-based newspaper that “…the girls are the main culprits of the saga and are being let off too easily…we are against the transfer of the magistrate who remanded the girls to custody and the suspension of the police officers who arrested them. The government’s action is not justified.”

The Sena’s call for a bandh means that transport, educational institutions, offices and shops are likely to remain closed in Palghar today. This lockdown comes a little over 10 days after the shutdown of Mumbai following the demise of Bal Thackeray on November 17, 2012.

(Picture courtesy scmp.com) 

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CM gives two days for Palghar arrests inquiry

Preliminary report from DGP indicates that Palghar police acted high-handededly in arresting the girls. Both girls are out on bail.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

A day after two girls in Palghar – Shaheen Dhada and her friend Rini Srinivasan, both 21 years old – were arrested by Palghar police for alleged defamatory and hurtful status message on Facebook, pressure is mounting on the Maharashtra state government to act against the errant cops as soon as possible. With the Press Council of India’s Chairman dashing off two letters to CM Prithviraj Chavan yesterday, and a storm of criticism across the Internet in India and abroad, Chavan has given his people two days to complete a high-level probe and furnish him with the facts of the case.

Chavan has directed the Konkan IG to investigate the matter in two days – the deadline for this ends tomorrow. DGP Sanjeev Dayal yesterday submitted a preliminary report to Additional Chief Secretary (Home department) Amitabh Rajan, in which he mentioned that there appeared to be “high-handedness on the part of the field officials” and the arrest of two girls appeared to be unwarranted and uncalled-for. Dayal has also asked the Palghar cops if they had “applied their minds” while charging the girl’s FB post under Section 295(A) (outraging religious feelings). Prior to this, the Palghar Sessions Court had remanded the two girls to 15 days’ judicial custody, but the girls were later let off on bail for a surety of Rs 15,000 each.

The case

Shaheen had posted a Facebook status message that criticised the complete shutdown of Mumbai in the wake of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s death on Saturday, November 17. Her friend Rini had ‘liked’ the message. Angered by the comment, a group of men, purportedly from the Shiv Sena, vandalised Dhada Hospital, which belongs to Shaheen’s uncle, Dr Abdul Dhada. The girl’s family has also alleged that a huge mob of Sainiks locked the girl and her family in their home, before forcefully taking Shaheen to the police station. A police complaint against the two girls had been filed by the Shiv Sena shakha pramukh of the area, Bhushan Sankhe.

The girls were initially questioned by the police and slapped with IPC Section 295A (outraging religious feelings) and Section 66A, IT Act (offensive message through a communication device). Later, Section 295A was changed to 505(2) (creating enmity). Interestingly, the girls were summoned to the police station after sunset – by law, an Indian woman may not be brought to the police station or arrested after sunset. The girls were arrested at about 7 am on Monday.

Shaheen apologised and took down the offending comment; however Sankhe said that the Sainiks were “angered” after the girl was asked to apologise and she refused to do so.

Update: Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has replied to Justice Katju’s letter. Chavan has assured Katju of the gravity of the investigations, and appraised him of the arrest of nine persons who attacked Dr Dhada’s clinic. Read the reply here.

(Picture courtesy www.arabnews.com)

 

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