Maharashtra government is going to seek cancellation of bail granted to independent MP-MLA couple Navneet and Ravi Rana in Hanuman Chalisa row, public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said on Sunday. The advocate said after careful perusal of the conversation of the couple on the hymn recital issue, the state has arrived at the conclusion that Navneet and her husband Ravi violated bail condition number three. Gharat’s statement came as a response to a query by media on whether the Rana couple violated the bail condition of not speaking to the media on the Hanuman Chalisa recital matter.
“We’re duty bound to bring to the notice of the court about the same (flouting of bail condition) and will seek cancellation of the bail granted to the couple,” Gharat said.
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Navneet and Ravi were granted bail by a Mumbai sessions court on Wednesday (May 4), and the duo walked out of prison the following day. Navneet was pictured leaving Byculla women’s prison in Mumbai, while Ravi left Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai – showing the Hanuman Chalisa book to reporters.
The couple were arrested on April 23 for their call to chant the Hanuman Chalisa outside Shiv Sena supremo and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s family residence ‘Matoshree’. Though they later dismissed the call, Mumbai Police booked them under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including sedition and creating enmity between different groups.
After the bail was granted to them, Gharat said their arrest was justified and necessary as they tried to show the law and order situation in the western state was out of the government’s control and as such the regime was needed to be dissolved.
On Thursday (May 5), after leaving the Byculla jail, Navneet was taken to Lilavati hospital in Mumbai’s suburban Bandra region for her spondylitis treatment. Later, her husband was seen visiting the hospital with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya accompanying him. Ravi alleged on the same day that Byculla jail authorities did not pay heed to Navneet even after she complained of health issues and requested hospitalisation.
Her lawyer had earlier too given details of the MP’s health issues, saying she had spondylitis and that the condition was worsening due to continuously sitting and lying on the floor of the jail.
Navneet, meanwhile, was discharged from the hospital earlier in the day.
(With inputs from Mumbai bureau)