MAN WHO GAVE RAPE THREAT TO CONG LEADER’S DAUGHTER HELD

MUMBAI: Mumbai Police arrested a 36-year-old man in Gujarat for giving a rape threat on Twitter to the daughter of Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi, an official said on Thursday.

Girish Maheshwari was arrested from Bavla near Ahmedabad late on Wednesday, a police officer said. He reportedly does odd jobs for a living.

Following a directive from the Union home ministry, police had registered a case against Twitter user ‘@Girishk1605’ for threatening to rape Chaturvedi’s 10-year-old daughter. He was traced through the IP address.

Soon after the threatening tweet, Chaturvedi approached police in Delhi as well as Mumbai. Both lodged an FIR.

The case was registered under Section 509 (word, gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC, and under sections of Information Technology Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, on Tuesday, said Deepak Deoraj, deputy commissioner and Mumbai Police spokesperson.

In her complaint, Chaturvedi said that a fake quote attributed to her on the Mandsaur rape case was made viral. The fake quote said she was in support of the accused, and was used by Girish to threaten Chaturvedi’s 10-year-old daughter of rape.

The Congress leader also expressed shock over the Prime Minister’s Office and Narendra Modi himself from his official handle following several trolls who abuse people on Twitter. She said that the PM’S silence was further encouraging them.

“Time has come for Twitter to take responsibility... Women are being harassed,” she said, adding the Centre needs to devise a policy to make people feel safe.