THE TIMES OF INDIA (September 17, 2020)

New Delhi: Terming the recent assault of a retired Indian Navy officer and demolition of actor Kangana Ranaut’s office in Mumbai as “state-sponsored violence”, three senior BJP MPs on Wednesday approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) urging it to conduct an inquiry and take action against the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra.

The three MPs who submitted the memorandum to NHRC were Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Vikas Mahatme and Bhagwat Karad. “A retired Navy officer Madan Sharma was beaten up by the 8 to 10 members of the Shiv Sena. Sharma was attacked due to the circulation of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's cartoon on a WhatsApp group. Leaders of the party including MP Sanjay Raut supported such an attack,” the BJP MPs stated in the memorandum.

“Physical attacks on the citizens over their exercise of rights such as freedom of speech to criticise the state government end up into state-sponsored violence. The Maharashtra government has not spared freedom of the press,” it said The three MPs also said vindictive action was taken against Kangana Ranaut who had become vocal against the government. “There are a number of incidents of police atrocities reported merely on the ground of raising voice over social media. Whereas posting defamatory material against the Prime Minister or any other persons in opposition are conveniently overlooked and discriminatory practices adopted by the Maharashtra government,” they said while urging the rights body to order a probe.