Hanuman Chalisa row: Navneet Rana, her MLA-husband Ravi Rana get bail on THESE six conditions

Maharashtra's MP-MLA couple, who was arrested on April 23 by the Mumbai police, was booked under various provisions of the IPC, including charges of sedition and promoting enmity.

New Delhi: A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday (May 4, 2022) granted bail to MP Navneet Rana and her MLA-husband Ravi Rana, who were arrested following a row over the recitation of Hanuman Chalisa in front of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's residence.

The couple, who were arrested on April 23 by the Mumbai police, was booked under various provisions of the IPC, including charges of sedition and promoting enmity.

Special judge allowed Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana's bail plea on six conditions 

• The Mumbai Sessions Court granted bail to Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana on a surety of Rs 50,000.
• The court said that the applicants shall not commit a similar offence while on bail.
• Maharashtra's MP-MLA couple can not address the press on any subject related to the case.
• Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana will have to cooperate with the officials in the investigation.
• The Rana couple can not in any way influence any witness or tamper with the evidence related to the case.
• They also have to appear before the police for questioning, whenever called. The police, however, has to give them a 24-hour notice period.

It is noteworthy that the couple had in their bail plea claimed that the call to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside 'Matoshree', the Maharashtra CM's private residence, cannot be said to be an act to promote feelings of enmity or hatred and the charge under IPC section 153(A) cannot be sustained.

They also submitted that by no stretch of imagination, can the acts of the applicants be stated to constitute the offence of sedition.

The police, however, had opposed the bail plea, saying while on the face of it the couple's plan looked innocent, but it was, in fact, a big plot to challenge the ruling government. The police claimed that the opposition BJP in the state and political opponents of Uddhav Thackeray were trying to create an atmosphere to show that the chief minister was against Hindus and not sponsoring the cause of Hinduism. 

(With agency inputs)