Mumbai: The reported arrest of a 21-year-old girl over her Facebook status update questioning the shutdown of Mumbai over Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's death has drawn flak from former Supreme Court Judge and chairman of Press Council of India Justice Markandey Katju who has written to Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, seeking his active intervention in the matter.
In the letter addressed to Chavan, Justice Katju has written: "It is alleged that she has been arrested for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. To my mind it is absurd to say that protesting against a bandh hurts religious sentiments. Under Article 19(1)(a) of our Constitution, freedom of speech is a guaranteed fundamental right. We are living in a democracy, not a fascist dictatorship. In fact this arrest itself appears to be a criminal act since under sections 341 and 342 it is a crime to wrongfully arrest or wrongfully confine someone who has committed no crime.
Hence if the facts reported are correct, I request you to immediately order the suspension, arrest, chargesheeting and criminal prosecution of the police personnel (however high they may be) who ordered as well as implemented the arrest of that woman, failing which I will deem it that you as Chief Minister are unable to run the state in a democratic manner as envisaged by the Constitution to which you have taken oath, and then the legal consequences will follow."
The 21-year-old girl was allegedly arrested from the town of Palghar along with
04:37 PM, Nov 19, 2012
On The Last Word, Karan Thapar asks a panel of experts - How should we judge between Kejriwal's allegations and DLF, Vadra's rebuttal? ...
09:34 PM, Oct 08, 2012
After facing allegations of financial irregularities for the last three days, Robert Vadra on Monday decided to close his Facebook account. ...
07:04 PM, Oct 08, 2012
New Delhi: Even as the government ruled out a probe into business dealings between Robert Vadra and realty major DLF, the war of words between activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal and Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law on the social media over the corruption charges continued to evoke sharp political reactions across the country on Monday. While Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the government cannot look into private transactions unless there are specific allegations of...
06:30 PM, Oct 08, 2012
New Delhi: Social activist Arvind Kejriwal on Monday took a dig at the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Robert Vadra over his Facebook status that read, 'Mango men in a banana republic', in an apparent jibe at Kejriwal and senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan who have accused Vadra of financial impropriety. Hitting back at Vadra over his status and taking the term 'aam aadmi' quite literally, Kejriwal tweeted,...
03:42 PM, Oct 08, 2012
New Delhi: After reports that Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra posted a new Facebook status that read, 'Mango people in banana republic', India Against Corruption (IAC) asked him to apologise. IAC member Arvind Kejriwal's associate Kumar Vishwas demanded that Vadra apologise for insulting India by calling it a banana republic. "Today Robert Vadra has written 'mango people in banana republic' on his Facebook page. He insulted our country...
10:51 AM, Oct 08, 2012
New Delhi: It's Friday and 'Raaz 3' has opened to halls packed with eager men and women looking forward to a film that marks the return of siren Bipasha Basu as a heroine obsessed with her stardom and willing to go to any extremes to hold on to her dwindling fortune. Despite Raaz 3's occasional jumpy moments of supernatural and the combined sensuality of its heroines Bipasha and Esha Gupta,...
02:32 PM, Sep 07, 2012
