Post date: Nov 20, 2012 3:8:56 PM
The arrest of a young woman, Shaheen Dhada over her Facebook post criticizing the shutdown in Mumbai following the death of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray sparked outrage across India.
PALGHAR, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA (NOVEMBER 20, 2012) (ANI) - The arrest of a young woman, Shaheen Dhada over her Facebook post criticizing the shutdown in Mumbai following the death of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray sparked outrage across India.
Dhadha was arrested by the Mumbai police on Sunday (November 18) after being accused of hurting sentiments of Thackeray's followers.Her friend, Renu Srinivasan, was also arrested for liking the comment. The two were later granted bail, after police produced them at a court in Palghar, close to Mumbai.
The two young women regret their action and have pledged never to use Facebook and have already deactivated their accounts.
Dhada said she was still reeling under the shock of the incident, which has caused nationwide outrage.
"The police did not arrest me, they just took me to the police station and asked me to apologise. I am in shock," she said.
The Maharashtra government has ordered an enquiry into the arrest of these two women.
A mob had attacked Dhada's uncle's clinic. In wake of the mounting pressure by activists and political leaders, the police on Tuesday (November 20) arrested nine people for vandalizing her uncle's clinic.
Station house in charge of the Palghar police, Srikant Pingle, said that the court has granted bail to the two girls.
"Yesterday, two girls had posted comments on Facebook that questioned the shutdown following Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's death. We had arrested both the girls and we produced them in the court and they were later released. We have also booked people for allegedly vandalising a hospital in Thane. There are three to four unknown persons," he said.
Thackeray's funeral procession on Sunday brought Mumbai city to a halt as a sea of crowd, including supporters of Shiv Sena took to the streets, flyovers and even trees to get a final glimpse of their beloved leader.
Indian Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, in 2011, had met executives from Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to ask them to screen content, but no agreement with the companies was reached.
Sibal had denied he was promoting censorship but said some of the images and statements on social media risked fanning tensions in India, which has a long history of deadly religious violence. He said the firms had rebuffed earlier calls to take action.
Sibal, while speaking to a reporter in New Delhi on Tuesday, stressed on the need to educate enforcement agencies about the Information Technology Act and prevent its misuse in the future.
Sending people to judicial custody under Section 66 (a) of the IT act is not in accordance with laws and could be illegal.
"Our enforcement agencies have been unable to completely understand the real meaning of this law. First of all, the freedom of speech and I feel that Section 66 (a) is being misused. We cannot take away one's right to freedom of speech and I have told my ministry that if any such incident takes place acrossIndia, then there should be a detailed enquiry and all the facts regarding such cases should be presented before me," he said.
Leader of regional Shiv Sena, Sanjay Raut, said that his party supported the police action against the two young women, who had commented on the shutdown.
He added that the comments could have created a law and order problem in the city.
"We have supported the investigation in this case. The police have done their duty. The comment that was posted on Facebook was insensitive. It was about Maharashtra's and the country's biggest leader of the people, Balasaheb Thackeray. Almost the entire nation observed a shutdown in the wake of his death; even schools were closed. Such comments could hurt the sentiments of the people and therefore, if the police performs its duty, I will support it. You must have seen the manner in which social networking websites are being used in Mumbai and Maharashtra and it can lead to riots and create tension," he said, while speaking to a reporter in Mumbai.
In October, Ravi Srinivasan, a 46-year-old businessman in Pondicherry, was arrested for a tweet criticising Karti Chidambaram, son of Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
In September, a cartoonist, Aseem Trivedi was imprisoned in Mumbai on charges of sedition for his anti-corruption drawings. He was later granted bail.
In April, Mamata Banerjee got a teacher arrested who had emailed to friends a cartoon that criticised her. He too was later released on bail.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat condemned the arrest of these two young women and said that it showed the kind of appeasement policies the Congress-NCP has inMaharashtra towards the Shiv Sena brand of intolerant, authoritarian politics.
"We strongly condemn the arrest of these two young women and it shows the kind of appeasement policies the Congress-NCP has in Maharashtra towards the Shiv Sena brand of intolerant, authoritarian politics. It is unheard of that these two young women, who have put out a statement, which remotely is not offensive in any sense, has nothing to do with religious sentiments. So, how were these false cases forced on them? If not because to appease Shiv Sena's brand of intolerant, authoritarian politics and who are the police officials who did it? Action should be taken against them," he said, while speaking to a reporter in the capital.
The country of 1.2 billion people created new rules earlier in 2011 obliging Internet companies to remove a range of objectionable content when requested to do so, a move criticized at the time by rights groups and social media companies.
Despite the rules in place, India's Internet access is largely unrestricted, in contrast to tight controls in fellow Asian economic powerhouse China. But in line with many other governments around the world,India has become increasingly edgy about the power of social media.