FB post row: 10 held for vandalising clinic

Now, lawyer gets threat call

Corporate lawyer Karan Vaswani, 34, allegedly received threat calls from an unidentified person on Tuesday afternoon from a public phone booth after he questioned on Facebook the state honour accorded to Bal Thackeray.

The lawyer claims the Mumbai Police Helpline (100) promised action, but only after the threat was executed. "I first got a call at 1.53 pm today. He first asked me if I was Vaswani. When I confirmed, a battery of abuses followed. He said he lived in my area and knew where I stayed and threatened that he would get 500 men to my house, and show the consequences of free speech," Vaswani said.

"I called the emergency hotline at 2.27 pm. A woman police personnel told me I should call the helpline if they came to attack. She said help would arrive in two minutes in such a situation," he added.

DCP (Operations) Keshav Patil said, "The control room should not have responded that way. If the threat is reasonable or if the caller asks for help, the police station concerned should be informed. The police station sends its nearest beat marshalls to the spot. The number is traced and inquiries are initiated."

It's an extreme reaction, typical of Shiv Sena. This kind of intolerance has destroyed the intelligentsia of a city.

Rinki Bhattacharya,

Writer, Vice-Chairperson of Children's Film Society of India

It takes two to tango; it was stupid on the girl's part to post something like that at a time when everyone was emotionally charged. The Maharashtra Police have always been communal. As the government, the Congress has never tried to secularise them.

Prahlad Kakkar, Ad guru

We are getting so stupid by the day that we are making idiots of ourselves in front of the global community. We need to stop it. Media will write about it for two days and then stop following it up. We all should react against it and demand a change in the legislation.

... contd.

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