The Mumbai Police’s reply to a tweet by columnist Shobhaa De on Tuesday night sparked a lengthy and somewhat delighted discussion on Twitter.
Earlier in the day, Ms. De had tweeted a picture of an overweight policeman with a caption saying, “Heavy police bandobast in the city today!” Three hours later, the Mumbai Police, through their official Twitter handle @MumbaiPolice, responded to the tweet saying, “We love puns too Ms. De but this one is totally misplaced. Uniform/official not ours. We expect better from responsible citizens like you.”
The tweet went viral, getting retweeted more than 1,700 times within 30 minutes. It received over 200 comments, most of them lauding the Mumbai Police for “giving it back” to Ms. De, while others spewing criticism at her. The Mumbai Police went on to ‘pin’ the tweet to their account.
The picture in question, that of an overweight man in a policeman’s uniform, has been doing the rounds of social media for at least two years. Ms. De and Mumbai Police Commissioner D.D. Padsalgikar could not be reached for comment.
