Madan Sharma, a retired Navy officer who alleged he was beaten up by Shiv Sena workers in Mumbai on Friday, has asked all workers and organisations of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray should seek apology from the entire nation, that such incident does not take place again with anyone else.
In a statement, Madan Sharma said, "I'm injured and stressed. What happened, is saddening. I would like to tell Uddhav Thackeray that if you can't look after law and order then resign and let people decide who should look after it."
At least 4 Shiv Sainiks who were arrested for assaulting a retired Indian Navy officer for allegedly forwarding a cartoon on Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, were released on bail here on Saturday, officials said.
The victim, Madan Sharma, 65, is a resident of Lokhandwala Complex in Kandivali east, who had reportedly forwarded a cartoon showing Thackeray prostrating before pictures of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, on a WhatsApp group of his society members.
The incident happened on Friday afternoon when a group of around 8-10 persons, all allegedly Shiv Sainiks, came and assaulted Sharma in his society compound.
The Shiv Sainiks, including a Shakha Pramukh Kamlesh Kadam, found the cartoon objectionable, stormed inside Sharma's complex and attacked him, said an official of Samata Nagar Police Station.
Earlier, though nobody from the society had reacted to the cartoon, someone had forwarded it Kadam, his medico daughter Dr. Sheela Sharma said.
A CCTV clip of the society posted by local Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Atul Bhatkalkar shows the attackers chasing Sharma, dragging him by the collar, pulling his shirt and attacking with no intervention from the society security personnel.
With red and swollen eyes, though Sharma apparently escaped serious injuries, he managed to reach home soon afterwards and then went to the police station to lodge a complaint, even as several BJP leaders slammed the government for the incident.
(With inputs from IANS)
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