Mumbai Opposition has slammed the state government over the strictures passed by the sessions court for booking Independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana under sedition charge. The opposition questioned whether the Maharahstra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will apologise for the wrongful confinement of the lawmakers.
Leader of opposition in the legislative assembly Devendra Fadnavis said that the court had exposed the draconian and undemocratic politics and actions of the MVA government, which is used to crush dissenting voices.
While tweeting the session court order by highlighting the strictures passed by it, Fadnavis has questioned if the state government will apologise for its act of booking Ranas under section 124(a) of IPC.
Leader of opposition in the legislative council Pravin Darekar said that the session court stricture is a tight slap on the face of the state government. “The court has rightly pointed at the autocratic way of functioning of the state government. This is not the first time the court has rapped the state for action against BJP leaders and the opponents of the ruling parties in the past. The Ranas had withdrawn its agitation after they were served notice by the police, despite which they were booked under section 124 (A) of IPC,” he said.
However, Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil said that the home department will study the court order and take corrective steps, if needed. “The police department applies the charges based on the investigation and the circumstances at the local level. I am sure the police would have their own justification for it and they will defend it in the court. If the need be, they may also challenge it in the upper court. I have not seen the court order. We will take a call on it after studying the order,” he said on Friday.
Maharashtra Congress’s general secretary Sachin Sawant, in a series of tweets, has reminded BJP about the number of sedition cases lodged by the central government in the last eight years.
“The Modi government registered 326 cases of sedition between 2014 and 2022. 149 and 144 people were booked under sedition for speaking against Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath respectively. Siddique Kappan, a Kerala journalist, has been booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for reporting the Hathras rape case. He has been languishing in jail for the last one and half years. BJP should first look at the ‘terror’ created by the central government,”he said.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut dubbed it a “relief scam”. Raut said that such a “relief scam” was underway in the country and the state for the members of a particular political party. “The relief scam which is going on in the country, there are many aspects [to it]. Crimes and charges get proven only against us, but why don’t the same charges against others get proven? This is a matter of research,” Raut said.