A sessions court in Mumbai on Wednesday granted bail to independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA-husband Ravi Rana, who were arrested on charges of sedition and promoting enmity after announcing to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence last month.
The couple, however, will be released on Thursday after formalities pertaining to their bail are completed, their counsel Rizwan Merchant said.
Additional sessions judge R N Rokade granted the bail to the couple on furnishing a personal bond of ₹50,000 each and with one or two sureties in the same amount. The court granted the duo eight weeks to produce the sureties and allowed their release on provisional cash bail.
The court also directed the couple not to commit a similar offence while on bail, and not address press on any subject related to the matter, which has triggered a political row across the state. It also asked them to make themselves available for the investigation, as and when required.
“Breach of the conditions will entail cancellation of the bail forthwith,” the court order, a copy of which HT has seen, said.
“The court has granted bail to Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana. By the time the documents reached the concerned magistrate court in Borivali, the court timing was over. Hence, the remaining process will be completed on Thursday morning,” the couple’s counsel, Rizwan Merchant, said. While Navneet is lodged in Byculla women’s prison, Ravi is in Taloja jail.
On April 23, Amravati MP Navneet and Ravi, independent MLA from Badnera assembly in the district, were arrested by Khar Police under sections 124-A (sedition), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for their insistence on chanting the Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree, Thackeray’s residence, “to remind the Shiv Sena leader of his Hindutva roots”.
The couple’s public declaration led to confrontations between supporters of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), prompting the chief minister to say that anybody could chant the Hanuman Chalisa at his residence, but no one had the right to threaten the Shiv Sena.
In their bail plea filed through advocates Merchant and Abad Ponda, the couple claimed that chanting the Hanuman Chalisa was not an offence. They said they had called off their plans (to chant the Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree) after they were issued a notice by police under section 149 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and complied with the same.
Opposing their bail plea, police said the couple’s action was a part of a larger conspiracy to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The couple’s arrest was necessary and justified as they attempted to suggest that the law and order situation in the state was not under control and as such, the government was required to be dissolved, special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said.
Welcoming the court order, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said the decision to invoke the sedition charge against the couple was stupidity.
“There can not be anything more stupid then arresting someone for reciting the Hanuman Chalisa. This was foolishness of the government and the grant of bail establishes that,” the former chief minister told reporters in Nagpur.
Need ruling party reax
Meanwhile, a team of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) visited the couple’s apartment in suburban Khar here for inspection but found it locked, an official familiar with the matter said.
The team’s visit came following a complaint about illegal construction on the eighth floor of the Lavie building, where the Ranas have an apartment, an official said on condition of anonymity.
On May 2, the H Ward office of the BMC had issued a notice to the society and occupiers of the eighth floor under section 488 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888.
As per section 488, BMC officials can enter any premises for the purpose of inspection, survey or execution of necessary work.
The notice had stated that BMC officials may visit the house on May 4 or thereafter.
The team will visit the house again on Thursday or Friday, the official cited above said.
(With agency inputs)
