Succumbing to pressure, the state home department on Tuesday passed an order of suspension for superintendent for Police Thane (Rural) Ravindra Shengaonkar and police inspector Shrikant Pingle.
The officers will be facing departmental action.
Home minister R.R. Patil declaring that the officers would be placed under suspension said that the report of Special IG Konkan Range Sukhvinder Singh who was asked to probe into the matter was received a couple of days ago and action was taken accordingly. The officers have been suspended for not abiding by the instructions given to them by senior officers and wrongly interpreting the IT Act, applying wrong sections of the same in the case. Meanwhile, additional SP Sangramsingh Nishandar has been reprimanded and a letter of warning has been placed on his record for not paying heed to the orders of the senior officers.”
“Had they acted on the orders of their seniors, I would have tried to save them. But in this case they acted on their own accord, despite the fact that there were no such orders,” said home minister R.R. Patil, adding that senior officers should be careful while implementing the IT Act. He said that the state would plan a workshop for all policemen to explain the finer points of implementing the Act. He also said that people should observer restraint while using social networking sites. Shaheen Dhada had condemned the closure of Mumbai after the death of Bala Thackeray and her friend Renu Srinivasan had liked it. The local Shiv Sena leaders not only vandalised a hospital belonging to Shaheen’s uncle, but also pressurised the police to register a case and get the girls arrested. The police recorded a case under section 295 (A) IPC for deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting religious beliefs and 505 (2) IPC for statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes and section 66, which also speaks about spreading religious discord.