Facebook outrage: Minister for strict action against guilty cops

Mumbai, Nov 24 (IANS) Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil Saturday said the state government has taken “very seriously” the arrest of two women for questioning on Facebook the Mumbai shutdown after Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray’s death.

Patil promised strict action against the policemen involved in the arrest of the two young women if they were found guilty. The arrests raised a storm of protests across the state and the country.

“I’ll discuss the report with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and strict action will be taken against the officers if found guilty,” Patil told reporters here.

A report on the arrest of two women for their comments on the social networking site Facebook has been submitted to the director general of state police here Friday.

Officials from Palghar police station in Thane district had Sunday arrested 21−year−old Shaheen Dadha and her friend Renu for posting the comments.

Apart from the findings by Inspector General (Konkan Range) Sukhvinder Singh, the report also contains details of the first information report and statements of the officers involved in the arrests.

Police officials said the probe report indicted the policemen involved in the arrests and said the arrests could have been avoided.

Official sources said the charges framed against Shaheen and Renu were likely to be dropped.

Thane rural police had also arrested 10 rioters who ransacked the clinic of Shaheen’s uncle. However, they were released on a bail of Rs.7,500 each after being presented before court.

IANS 2012-11-24 20:26:07