MUMBAI: The Facebook controversy over comments by two Palghar girls still fresh, a similar controversy erupted in Palghar city with a 20-year-old computer student's Facebook account hacked and abusive comments posted on his page, this time targeting Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray. The fresh controversy erupted on Wednesday when Palghar remained shut for the day as theShiv Sena protested the suspension of the cops involved in the earlier incident pertaining to the two Palghar girls, Shaheen Dhada and Rini Srinivisan.
Sunil Vishwakarma, the youth accused of posting abusive remarks about the MNS chief, was detained by Palghar police but allowed to go late in the evening on Wednesday. Police confirmed that his Facebook account of Sunil Vishwakarma appeared to have been hacked by an unknown person. Anil Kumbhare, the new DSP (Thane rural) said an unidentified person apparently posted abusive comments about Thackeray in Sunil's name. The case has been handed over to the cyber crime cell, Thane.But in an eerie similarity with the case of Shaheen and Rinu, who were handed over to police by angry Shiv Sainiks, Sunil was handed over to Palghar police by MNS activists on Wednesday. His mother Paunavi, who accompanied him to the police station, collapsed and was given medical aid at a nearby hospital.
The complaint was registered by Bhavesh Churne, president of the MNS' Thane rural student wing. "We got information about the comment on Tuesday night. We called Sunil to our office, he denied posting the comment. We informed the police."
The comment was posted from a mobile phone around 3.47pm on Monday. It was followed by a comment from one Prem Patil abusing Sunil for his comment and again a retort in Sunil's name, further abusing the MNS leader. A resident of a Manor Naka chawl, Sunil is the only member in his family with a Facebook account. After failing in class 12, Sunil had joined a computer course in Vasai. Palghar forced to shut downSandhya Nair | tnnMumbai: Palghar, including the Srinivasans, were forced to be part of a shutdown on Wednesday as the Shiv Sena protested the suspension of the cops involved in the Facebook controversy.
Meanwhile, the bandh called by the Sena on Wednesday began at 6am and was total as shops, establishments and industrial units in Palghar taluka remained closed, despite several court diktats slamming such bandhs. The entire taluka and Palghar city in particular turned into a fortress with 1,000 cops manning the deserted streets. Contingents of the RAF, riot control police and quick response team guarded the homes of Shaheen Dhada and RinuSrinivasan, the girls who were arrested for a Facebook comment. While Shaheen had commented on the Mumbai shutdown after the death of late Sena chief Bal Thackeray, Rinu had liked the comment.
Shaheen is away at her home town in Rajkot, but the Dhada hospital and medical shop remained open. There was heavy police bandobast outside the hospital which was vandalised by Sainiks on November 18. Rinu and her family too stayed indoors as cops stayed put outside her building. Sena leaders gathered at key points in the city ensuring the bandh was total. Sena's Thane chief Prabhakar Raul demanded that the state government revoke the cops' suspensions and called for a strict law to check content on social networking sites.
Autos were off the road, state transport buses plied with police security. Railway canteens at Palghar station were shut. Since Wednesday was a state government holiday for Guru Nanak Jayanti, most people too remained indoors. Additional superintendent of police (Thane rural) Sangramsinh Nishandar said no untoward incidents were reported. Several industrial units, which were open till 10.30am, were forced to shut down by angry Sainiks. Various court judgments have put the legality of bandhs initiated by political parties under the scanner. The Bombay high court in 2004 directed two political parties to pay Rs 20 lakh each as compensation for losses due to a shutdown. The court also said the state could take action against anyone or any organization issuing bandh threats. But IPS official-turned-lawyer Y P Singh said action is often difficult as political parties portray the call for bandh as 'requests' and claim the compliance that follows is 'voluntary'.The judiciary has traditionally followed a 1997 SC's diktat upholding a Kerala bench ruling that no political party or organization could cripple industry or commerce in any state or the country, as a whole. But in a U-turn of sorts, in 2009, the SC refused to stall a proposed bandh in Chennai saying bandhs were a legitimate means way of expressing feelings in a democracy.
