Shiv Sena goons shave man's head for calling Uddhav Thackeray 'takle'

The Sainiks shaving the hair off Hiramani Tiwari's head; Hiramani Tiwari at the police station

A Wadala-based pharmacist was assaulted and his head forcibly shaved in public by Shiv Sena workers last week for sharing an anti-Thackeray comment through his Facebook account. The police have registered a non-cognisable offence against several Sena workers including Shiv Sena shakha pramukh Samadhan Jugdar from Wadala.

According to complainant Hiramani Tiwari aka Rahul, on Friday, December 20, he received a post on his social media account saying "Uddhav takle ne bola hai ki Jamia ki ghatna Jaliyanwala Baag ki yaad dilaati hai, aakhir aahi gaya apni aukat par???" [Uddhav himself said that the Jamia incident reminds us of Jallianwala Baug incident. Shows his true colours finally]. Tiwari shared a screenshot of this message on his Facebook timeline after which he received a call from a friend belonging to the Shiv Sena. Tiwari removed the comment after the call.

"I have not written anything myself and didn't mean to hurt anyone. I deleted the comment immediately," the 33-year-old told mid-day. "On December 22, some people came to my home saying 'Samadhan saab is calling you'. I went outside where I was questioned and then assaulted. They shaved my head publicly with around 15-20 people present and someone was recording a video of it," Tiwari narrated.

Samadhan Jugdar

'Police gave accused VIP treatment'
The police patrolling the area received the information and visited the spot and brought both the parties to the police station. All of them were released after a while and the complainant was warned against sharing any such post. "We served notice to both parties and let them go. Initially, Tiwari did not file any complaint about being assaulted," said Jitendra Bhobe, senior PI of Wadala TT police. The complainant, however, alleged that the police gave VIP treatment to the accused inside the police station.

"Everything was settled and I apologised to them for the comment and deleted it as well but they shared the video of shaving my head publicly. It went viral with the caption 'Shiv Sena Style'. Now I fear for my family as I am getting a lot of threat calls from unknown people. I may lose my job, I request the government to give me justice because if I have done anything wrong, what they have done is wrong as well. They insulted me publicly in front of my wife and I am feeling terrible," Tiwari said, adding that he decided to register an FIR after the video went viral.

"We have registered a case under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) and section 500 (defamation) of the IPC and are investigating the matter," Bhobe added. "Initially, I was told that they are going to register an FIR but after recording my statement they have registered a non-cognisable offence," Tiwari said "After recording the complainant's statement, we have come to the conclusion that it's a non-cognisable offence," added Bhobe. A senior Shiv Sena leader who did not wish to be named said, "As a responsibile organisation, we are going to take strict action against whoever is using the party's name to indulge in such kind of acts."

Dec 22
Day the incident took place

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