Mumbai: Maharashtra MLA Ravi Rana and his MP wife Navneet Rana on Monday moved the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the FIR against them. The matter will come up for hearing at 2.30 pm.
Navneet Rana and her husband were arrested on Saturday over their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray’s residence. A Mumbai court on Sunday sent the couple to 14-day judicial custody.
Navneet Rana, MP from Amravati, was taken to Byculla Jail, while her husband Ravi Rana, MLA from Badnera in Amravati, was first taken to Arthur Road Jail but later shifted to Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai.
Rana has been booked under section 153A ((promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, caste, place of birth, residence, language, etc. and doing prejudicial acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. Bombay Police Act Later, Mumbai Police also added a charge of sedition against the MLA-couple.
A police officer had said that the police had lodged another FIR against Rana for resisting arrest and obstructing police duty at his residence in suburban Khar.
On Saturday, Navneet Rana and her husband decided to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence. The move prompted Shiv Sena workers to protest outside the couple’s residence in Khar, Mumbai. Later, Ravi Rana announced that the plan has been canceled due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mumbai.
Later in the evening the husband-wife MLA duo were arrested. The Bharatiya Janata Party has extended its support to the Ranas, attacking the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
BJP MP Prakash Javadekar said, “I am surprised. A Lok Sabha MP and an MLA who are also husband and wife are in their house. They want to go to Matoshree (chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence). If only the chief minister’s residence and its surroundings are there. If Section 144 is imposed, the police can stop them. Not only this, they did not even come out of their house. Then under which law did the police arrest them? It is illegal to arrest MP and MLA without any reason.
first published:April 25, 2022, 12:20 p.m.
