Tonsured for FB comment

Had made derogatory remarks

On Sunday, a resident of Wadala was thrashed and his head tonsured by a few miscreants after he allegedly posted a derogatory comment against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on social media. The complainant, Hiramani Tiwari, had posted a comment against Thackeray in response to the latter likening the police attack on students of the Jamia Millia Islamia to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

The complainant said, "I have a Facebook account under the name of 'Rahul Tiwari' and I had commented on a post in a critical tone. Soon, a local party’s supporters in my area contacted me and threatened me with consequences, if I did not retract my post. Unwilling to be a part any controversy, I deleted the comment."

However, despite his doing so, on Sunday, a group led by some of the party functionaries called him out of his house at Shanti Nagar in Wadala (E) and beat him up, following which they shaved his head.

"Realising that I was outnumbered, I did not retaliate; so that they would shave off only a portion of my hair. The police soon reached the spot and took us to the police station, but did not register a complaint right away. Instead, they issued us a notice under section 149 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a legal tool given to the police to prevent the commission of a cognisable offence," said Tiwari.

On Monday, Jitendra Bhombe, senior inspector at Wadala TT police station, said they were recording Tiwari's statement and appropriate action would be initiated against the accused people.

A case of assault is likely to be registered against the party functionaries; the police have booked the main accused and his accomplices under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.