Rights panel issues notice to Jitendra Awhad, 3 police officers in assault case
The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has issued notices to former Maha Vikas Aghadi government minister Jitendra Awhad of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) along with three police officers in a criminal case of assaulting a Thane resident civil engineer in a row arising out of Twitter posts in 2020.
The commission has asked Awhad and three other police officers named by the victim Anant Karmuse in his petition, to explain the allegations levelled against them.
The next date of hearing has been scheduled for September 8 and sought a reply from Awhad and 3 police officers, said Advocate Aditya Mishra, counsel for the victim.
The commission in the order said, “One material aspect emerges on record as to how the basic fundamental right of a citizen to express himself has been violated blatantly by none other than the custodian and guardian of the law as well the elected representative of the citizen.”
The commission further stated, “I am satisfied that the victim’s right to honour and dignity has been blatantly violated because he had the courage to condemn, through electronic medium — Twitter, the comments or the opinion of the elective representative Jitendra Awhad, sitting MLA of Mumbra Kalwa Constituency of Thane District.”
The commission further added, “It is shocking to note that the police officials attached to the minister’s residence played a major role in this entire incident.”
Karmuse’s complaint said three men who identified themselves as police officers took him to Awhad’s home, where he was attacked in the presence of the officers with kicks, fists, rods, and police batons. Awhad, the three police officers, and some NCP functionaries were later arrested and released on bail.
FIR was registered under Sections 324 (assault), 365 (kidnapping), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. On October 14, 2021. Karmuse then moved the MSHRC claiming a violation of his rights as a human being.
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