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Accused of posting defamatory content on social media against Thackeray and Aaditya thakeray arrested by Nagpur Police last week.
Bail was granted by a Nagpur Court on Monday but was rearrested by Mumbai Police minutes later after the same court granted them his custody in a similar case.
Mumbai Police FIR registered in July is regarding his tweets in the last week of June and first week of July, and the Nagpur Police FIR is based on social media post put out by him in the last week of July.
The tweets are similar in nature whereby the Thackerays along with other leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra are allegedly called objectionable names.
Thakkar’s lawyer Prakash Jaiswal said that apart from the FIR at VP Road police station for which Mumbai Police got his custody, there is another FIR at BKC police station in Mumbai against Thakkar.
These two FIRs are in addition to the FIR registered at Nagpur.
“We have moved the Supreme Court to club these offences. Offences for the same issue cannot be registered in different parts of the country,” Jaiswal said. He said Thakkar was brought to court with his face covered and there was heavy security cover “as if he was a terrorist”.
When he was arrested, Jaiswal had told the court that the case smacked of “political intolerance” and that “if people were to be arrested for such remarks on Twitter, then we will have to create special Twitter jails.”
Advocate Dharam Mishra from Shiv Sena’s legal cell, who is the complainant in the case, said, “He insulted persons holding Constitutional posts by making derogatory and abusive statements, outraged the modesty of women by posting obscene material and also used abusive language against Supreme Court judges.”
Jaiswal opposed the Mumbai Police application for custody, arguing that “Mumbai is a Covid-prone city… and the police could be Covid positive” and this could “adversely impact the health of the applicant”.
Source Indian Express