Stones pelted at Saamna’s Navi Mumbai office for publishing controversial cartoon
The cartoon that drew flak from the Maratha community
The Navi Mumbai office of Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ was stoned by the Maratha community today morning over a controversial cartoon about their recent silent marches in the state.
A pro-Maratha social organisation, ‘Sambhaji Brigade’, later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Three youths arrived in a vehicle at the Saamana printing press building located at Sanpada in Navi Mumbai at around 1.45 PM. They called the guard of the press and requested him to take a letter, police said.
As the guard was approaching their vehicle, the youths got down from the vehicle, rushed towards the press building and allegedly pelted it with stones and fled, they said.
Two-three glasses on the building’s outer wall were damaged in the attack, they added.
After getting information of the attack, police reached the spot and a complaint was lodged by the office-bearers at Sanpada police station.
Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagarale confirmed the incident.
Police said an offence has been registered against the culprits and appropriate action will be taken.
The Sambhaji Brigade took responsibility of the attack and condemned the cartoon published in the mouthpiece.
“We are condemning a cartoon which was published in Saamna. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and Saamna’s executive editor Sanjay Raut must apologise to the women of Maharashtra,” the brigade’s spokesperson Shivanand Bhanuse told PTI.
“The attack was spontaneous and an expression of emotions of the Maratha community,” he said.
On Sunday, a cartoon on ‘silent march’ by Shrinivasan Prabhu Desai was published in Saamana, which drew criticism from various political quarters.
In the cartoon, the illustrator depicted a male protester kissing a woman, while playing on the term ‘muk morcha’ (silent protest) and changing it to ‘muka morcha’ (kissing protest).
The Marathas have been organising silent marches across the state following the Kopardi rape and murder incident, in which the victim was a member from the community.
Some more such rallies are also planned in the state in the coming days.
