Won’t Arrest Narayan Rane, Maharashtra Govt Tells Bombay HC; Next Hearing on Sept 17

Notably, the Bombay High Court was hearing a petition filed by Narayan Rane’s lawyers to quash the FIRs filed against him in ‘slap Uddhav’ row.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday told Bombay High Court that it won’t take any coercive action against Narayan Rane in FIR lodged in Nashik over his remarks against CM Uddhav Thackeray. The Maharashtra government also said that it will not arrest Union Minister Narayan Rane for his comment against Uddhav.

The hearing in Narayan Rane’s petition has now been scheduled for September 17. Notably, the Bombay High Court was hearing a petition filed by Narayan Rane’s lawyers to quash the FIRs filed against him in ‘slap Uddhav’ row. The Union minister is also set to address the media later in the day. Security, meanwhile, has been beefed up outside Rane’s residence.

Last night, Rane returned to Mumbai after being granted bail. According to the Raigad court order, the judge felt Rane’s “arrest was justified” but slammed the police for failing to maintain “proper case diary”.

“There are grounds in law for arrest without warrant. Considering the reasons of arrest and the ones that were discussed in the court, I found that the arrest was justified,” said the judge. “In the present case, the investigating officer did not follow the said mandate. No need of police custody, accused remanded to judicial custody till September 4,” the court said.

Last night, the magistrate’s court in Mahad denied the police’s request for his custody, but asked Rane to attend the Mahad police station on two days.

The BJP leader had said during the Jan Ashirwad Yatra of his party on Monday that he would have slapped Thackeray over the latter’s `ignorance’ of the year of India’s independence. “Satyamev Jayate” (truth always prevails), Rane tweeted after getting bail and on his way back to Mumbai.

After his arrest on Tuesday afternoon, Rane was taken to Mahad in Raigad district, 165 km from Mumbai, where an FIR was registered against him over the remark. Cases were registered against him at Nashik and Pune too as the remark set off angry protests by workers of the ruling Shiv Sena.

Rane was taken into custody at Golwali, the ancestral village of former RSS chief Sadashivrao Golwalkar ‘Guruji’ in Ratnagiri district. He was then handed over to Raigad police around 2.45 pm in connection with the FIR registered at Mahad.

The case at Mahad was registered under IPC sections 189 (threat of injury to public servant), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of public peace), and 505 (statements conducive to public mischief).

Rane defended his remarks against Thackeray, saying he hasn’t committed any crime by making them. On media reportage of his ‘imminent arrest’ in the case, Rane said hours before his arrest that he was not a normal’ (ordinary) man and cautioned the media against such reportage.

Rane’s remarks against Thackeray drew sharp reactions from Shiv Sena, whose workers put up a poster in Mumbai, calling him a kombdi chor’ (chicken stealer), a reference to the poultry shop he ran in Chembur area five decades ago, during the initial part of his over four-decade-long stint with the Bal Thackeray-led party.