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
Islamabad: The blasphemy law has become a death warrant at the hands of mob vigilantism, a Pakistani daily said after an 11-year-old girl afflicted with Down syndrome was accused of blasphemy and sent to jail. In an editorial "Another mad act", Daily Times on Monday cited news reports as saying that Rifta Masih, 11, has been sent to jail for committing blasphemy. "She was caught tearing and dumping a few...
12:53 PM, Aug 21, 2012
