BJP Leaders and Daughter of Retired Navy Officer Madan Sharma Who Alleges He Was Beaten by Shiv Sena Workers in Mumbai, Protest Outside the Office of the Additional Police Commissioner | Photo credit: ANI
Key points
- BJP Protest Against Release of Shiv Sena Thugs Who Attacked Retired Navy Officer
- The veteran’s daughter also joins the sit-in
- Retired Navy officer Madan Sharma had posted a cartoon about Thackeray on a WhatsApp group.
New Delhi: The BJP launched a protest against the release of six Shiv Sena men who had been arrested yesterday for assaulting a retired naval officer.
All six defendants, including Shiv Sena’s leader Kamlesh Kadam, attacked Madan Sharma, 62, a former Navy officer for sharing a WhatsApp message about Maharashtra’s chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The six defendants were arrested by Mumbai police overnight after an FIR was recorded in connection with the incident.
‘Mumbai police had imposed bail sections’
Speaking to Times Now’s Tamal, a BJP leader said the protest was organized by Mumbai BJP President Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Pravin Darekar, leader of the opposition in the Upper House.
In questioning the sections imposed, the BJP leader claimed that the defendants obtained bail as the Mumbai police had imposed sections where bail could be made.
In addition, he said that Section 326 and the charges against trespassing were not added and called for the imposition of sections not liable to bail.
Mumbai police have registered a case under section 325 of the IPC (causing serious harm) and provisions related to the riots were registered against six defendants.
The defendants roam freely, but the retired officer is hospitalized, it added.
Dr. Sheela Sharma, daughter of the retired naval veteran who was also present at the protest site, called for strict punishment saying that her father’s soul was wounded by this brutal attack.
‘Violation of freedom of expression and expression’
Yesterday, while speaking to ANI, Madan Sharma had said: “Eight to ten people attacked and beat me today after receiving threatening calls about a message I had forwarded. I have worked for the nation my entire life. A government like this should not exist ”.
The BJP has rounded up Shiv Sena on the issue and, calling it “very shameful”, Lodha said that Maharashtra CM should crack down on him and called the assault a violation of freedom of expression.
BJP Mumbai strongly condemns this Gundaraj, he added.
