Report indicts police officials for Palghar girls' arrest

The state government is likely to drop charges against two girls from Palghar, arrested for questioning in a Facebook post the shutdown here following Bal Thackeray’s death, after an inquiry report indicted a few local police officers, including those from Thane district. 

Without naming the officials indicted, Inspector General of Police (state law and order) Deven Bharti said the report has suggested “departmental/administrative action against the errant officials who even changed the charges at the last moment of IPC Section 295(a) (invoked earlier) and Section 505(2)...the report also concluded that invoking these charges was unjustified.”

The inquiry report by Inspector General of Police (Konkan) Sukhwinder Singh, submitted to Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal on Friday, stated that Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Ahmad Javed had instructed local officers not to relent to pressure from political parties and arrest the girls.

Last Sunday, Shaheen Dhada and Reenu Srinivasan were taken into custody after the former, in a Facebook post, said: “We should remember Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev, the martyrs of India’s independence, instead of closing down the city due to the death of Thackeray.” Reenu had “liked” the post.

In response to a complaint by a Shiv Sena member, the police began interrogating the girls even as a mob led by party workers on Sunday night vandalised the clinic of Dhada’s uncle.