AHMEDABAD/MUMBAI, July 5: The Mumbai Police has arrested a 36-year-old man in Gujarat for giving a rape threat on Twitter to the daughter of Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi, an official said today.
Girish Maheshwari was arrested from Bavla village near Ahmedabad late last night, Ahmedabad District Superintendent of Police, R V Asari, told PTI.
The Mumbai Police was assisted by the local police in taking the accused into custody, he said.
After being brought to Mumbai, Maheshwari was produced before a Dindoshi court which remanded him in police custody till July 10, police spokesperson Deepak Deoraj said.
Following a directive from the Union home ministry on July 3, the police in Mumbai’s Goregaon registered a case against Twitter user @GirishK1605 for threatening to rape Chaturvedi’s 10-year-old daughter. The tweet was deleted later.
The case was filed under Section 509 (word, gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
In her complaint to the police on July 2, Chaturvedi said that the Twitter user, despite using an image of Lord Ram in the profile picture, did not think twice before giving such a threat.
The Union Home Ministry had also asked the Delhi Police file an FIR in connection with the threat.
Chaturvedi said she faced a barrage of abuses on the social media after a “fake” comment on the rape of a seven year-old girl in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh was attributed to her.
“I hope the police makes a watertight case to ensure speedy justice. A message should be sent out that no one can get away by giving such a threat to any person. We have no place for such a remark in a civilised society,” she told PTI on phone.
She also said it was time to show zero tolerance to such abuse.
Chaturvedi tweeted, “I would like to thank @MumbaiPolice , @DelhiPolice , especially @IPSMadhurVerma and @CPDelhi . Also my gratitude to @HMOIndia & @rajnathsingh ji for taking this up.”
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had been a target of hate messages on social media platforms following a passport row involving an interfaith couple.
She later decided to expose such trolls and began re-tweeting some of their tweets. She also conducted a poll on Twitter asking users whether they “approve” of such trolling to which 57 per cent no while 43 per cent said yes. (PTI)
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