Associated Press/Rafiq Maqbool, File - FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2012 file photo, Indian mourners carry a poster of Hindu hardline Shiv Sena party leader Bal Thackeray with the words "Long Live" during his funeral in Mumbai, India. Indian media say police in Mumbai have arrested two girls who posted a comment on a social networking site criticizing the shutdown of India's financial hub following the death of a Hindu fundamentalist politician over the weekend. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
By NIRMALA GEORGE | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago
NEW DELHI (AP) — As India's financial capital shut down for the weekend funeral of a powerful politician linked to waves of mob violence, a woman posted on Facebook that the closures in Mumbai were "due to fear, not due to respect." A friend of hers hit the "like" button.
For that, both women were arrested.
Analysts and the media are slamming the Maharashtra state government for what they said was a flagrant misuse of the law and an attempt to curb freedom of expression. The arrests were seen as a move by police to prevent any outbreak of violence by supporters of Bal Thackeray, a powerful Hindu fundamentalist politician who died Saturday.
"We are living in a democracy, not a fascist dictatorship," Markandey Katju, a former Supreme Court justice who now heads the Press Council of India, wrote in a protest letter to the chief minister of Maharashtra.
Katju demanded that the state government suspend the police officers who had ordered the arrests and prosecute them.
The women withdrew the comment and apologized, but angry Thackeray supporters ransacked an orthopedic clinic run by the uncle of one woman.
A lawyer representing the women, Sudheer Gupta, said police arrested them Sunday, the day of the funeral, on charges of creating enmity and hatred. They were released on bail Monday.
Shaheen Dhada, the 21-year-old who posted the comment appeared on television Tuesday, her face covered by a scarf so that only her eyes were visible.
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