NEW DELHI: A group of armed forces veterans on Sunday expressed their shock at the attack on a retired Navy official in Mumbai by Shiv Sena members and said that the fact the accused have been given bail has "added insult to injury".
"It is unbelievable that the Mumbai police investigation as well as the Maharashtra government prosecutors took this serious matter so casually that there has not been even a semblance of justice in this case," they said in a statement.
"Unequivocally" condemning the manhandling of Navy veteran Madan Sharma by Shiv Sena activists, they said justice has been denied in an "organised conspiracy to attack and degrade armed forces veterans and their families by clearly playing soft upon the criminals on account of their political affiliations".
Over 600 military veterans have signed their statement, and they included Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Naik (retd), Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (retd), Lt Gen Gurmeet Singh (retd) and Air Marshall S P Singh (retd).
In the statement, they said it is unbelievably shocking and categorically unacceptable for the veterans of armed forces to suffer as helpless victims of hooliganism in Mumbai, as has been experienced by Sharma.
"We must ensure the dignity, honour and safety of these veterans and commit to make it the highest priority for every Indian national," they said.
Sharma was roughed up and slapped at his residential complex in suburban Kandivali on Friday morning for allegedly forwarding on WhatsApp a cartoon lampooning Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.