Maharashtra’s MP-MLA couple Ranas, arrested over the Hanuman Chalisa row, were granted bail but again book over illegal construction.
Independent Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana and her MLA-husband Ravi Rana were arrested on April 23 after their public proclamation of their intentions to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence Matoshree’ in suburban Bandra. It seemed they barely got a breather when the Civic body again reached their home over an “illegal construction”
The Hanuman Chalisa Row and Bail
During their Hanuman Chalisa plan, they eventually dropped it quoting the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mumbai for an event. However, they were arrested on charges of sedition and promoting enmity.
The couple had moved the court seeking bail in an FIR registered by the Mumbai Police against them on charges of sedition and promoting enmity.
The conditions of bail include that the couple shall not hamper investigation or influence witnesses, they should not commit a similar criminal offense that entails the cancellation of bail, and should furnish a surety of Rs 50,000 each. Apart from this, they are also restrained from speaking to the media.
On Saturday, both the prosecution and defense completed their arguments on the bail application. Their bail plea said the call to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside ‘Matoshree’ cannot be said to be aimed at promoting feelings of enmity or hatred among different groups and this charge under IPC section 153(A) cannot be sustained.
There was no intention on the part of the applicants (Ranas) to instigate people or spread hatred by reciting the Hanuman Chalisa near the CM’s private residence, their plea said.”It is submitted that by no stretch of the imagination, can the acts of the Applicants be stated to constitute the offense of sedition,” the plea said.
Civic Body Reaches the Ranas’ Home Over “Illegal Construction”
The BMC had already sent a notice to the couple recently arrested over the Hanuman Chalisa row under Section 488 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials have reached the residence of Maharashtra MP-MLA couple Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana for investigation over “illegal construction” at their place in Mumbai’s Khar.
The BMC had already sent a notice to the couple recently arrested over the Hanuman Chalisa row under Section 488 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, according to which, officials can visit any building and ascertain whether any illegal alterations have been undertaken.
Earlier today, the Rana couple got bail by the Mumbai sessions court with several conditions in the Hanuman Chalisa row.
It seems the Ranas are in for troubled waters at this time.
Meanwhile, MNS chief Raj Thackeray kicked up a controversy when he said that playing Hanuman Chalisa at mosques is not a one-day event, as police arrest hundreds of MNS workers on Wednesday in the loudspeaker face-off. MNS chief Raj Thackeray said this will continue. “If the maulvis continue to adopt an inflexible stance with regards to their religion, then we will adopt a rigid stance,” the MNS chief said.