The pictures and videos of Sameet Thakkar, a common citizen of India tied in chains, face covered in black clothed mask whilst being dragged in an inhumane condition to a court hearing by the Mumbai Police is, for many, emerging as the real and wretched image of Maha Vikas Aghadi Government in Maharashtra—an image that most certainly will become the thumbnail of this unholy alliance built on compromised moral values and tarnished political ideologies.
It's human rights' violation by police as my brother's hands were tied & face was covered with black cloth when he was brought to court today. They treating him the way hardcore terrorist is treated: Rishi Thakkar, Sameet Thakkar's brother to ANI
(Video source: Sameet's family) pic.twitter.com/lPzFK4Nwie
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2020
Social Media users were shocked on Friday on watching a video of Sameet Thakkar, a Nagpur resident, accused of posting objectionable content against state CM and his scion. On Friday Sameet Thakkar was dragged in front of the court in chains by the Mumbai police, where his police custody was extended till 2 November. Thakkar, who has over 62.5K followers on Twitter had allegedly referred to CM Uddhav Thackeray as ‘Modern day Aurangazeb’, while allegedly referring to Aaditya Thackeray as ‘Baby Penguin’ in his tweets on June 1, 30, and July 30.
On 2nd July, two FIRs were registered against SameeT Thakkar in Nagpur and at VP Road police station, Mumbai. Reports state that the Police booked Thakkar under sections 292 (obscene acts or words in public), 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, and 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.
The video is gut-wrenching to watch and depicts how a power-hungry party that has been granted limitless power can go to absurd lengths to abuse the state machinery to break down a citizen who was merely exercising his right of freedom of speech.
It is well and truly understandable that there are limitations to free speech but the statements for which Sameet Thakkar is being hounded by the coward Maharashtra government is nothing short of atrocious and reeks of tyranny.
And the question begets us all, is Sameet Thakkar such a big criminal that the Mumbai Police needed to treat him like one? Was he a terrorist or did he commit the rarest of the rare crime that Mumbai Police meted him this sordid hospitality?
Maharashtra: Nagpur court extends Sameet Thakkar's police custody till 2 Nov.
He was arrested on 24 Oct for allegedly making objectionable comments against Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray & State Minister Aaditya Thackeray on social media
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2020
Several politicians including BJP leaders, horrified by the video lent their support to the video but the truth is, if BJP whilst being in power at the center cannot cull this sort of behavior which of late has become a habit of the MVA government, then it is worthless of trending any hashtag on Twitter, or for that matter, any social media platform.
“Is @thakkar_sameet a terrorist, is he an animal, is he a danger to the nation that he’s being treated in this manner? This goes against every tenet of humanity. Irrespective of political views, it is completely unlawful & immoral.All of us should be raising our voice against this’ tweeted Varun Gandhi.
Is @thakkar_sameet a terrorist, is he an animal, is he a danger to the nation that he’s being treated in this manner? This goes against every tenet of humanity. Irrespective of political views, it is completely unlawful & immoral.All of us should be raising our voice against this pic.twitter.com/tUkrktUPgF
— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) October 30, 2020
Seriously
Abuse itna bada crime kabse hogaya?@thakkar_sameet is tied with rope and face covered with black cloth 🤔Does he belong to any terrorist organization?
Janta sab dekh rahi hai#ReleaseSameetThakkar@KapilMishra_IND @sambitswaraj @ShefVaidya @TajinderBagga https://t.co/ql7huUjKRW
— Ramesh Solanki (@Rajput_Ramesh) October 30, 2020
The liberals and wokes of the country who have chosen to observe a stoic silence over the case of Sameet Thakkar should understand that this is what a ‘tyrranous’ state looks like where speaking a word against the top echelons of the political class can land you in jail, and a treatment worse than what hardened criminals get.
Departed Bala Saheb Thackeray, the founder of Shiv Sena who himself was a cartoonist and used his freedom of expression and a pen to expose several governments and their fallacies during his time, could never have thought that one day his own party would be embroiled in a such a controversy.
