Form of words:
Mumbai: A court in Maharashtra’s Mahad granted bail to Union Minister Narayan Rane, saying his arrest over his controversial remarks against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was justified, but his custodial interrogation was not necessary.
The court passed the order late Tuesday night and a detailed copy of it was made available on Wednesday.
Magistrate SS Patil said in the order that taking into account the reasons for the arrest and other reasons, I found that the arrest was justified.
The court said certain sections under which Rane was booked were non-bailable, but they were not punishable with life or death.
Taking these factors into account, if the accused is released on bail, there will be no prejudice to the prosecution, the court said, adding that “the accused will not commit a similar offence”.
Rane was arrested from Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district on Tuesday afternoon, following his remarks that he would have slapped Chief Minister Thackeray, which he claimed as ignorance of the latter’s year of India’s independence.
The Union Minister was produced before Magistrate Patil at Mahad in Raigad on Tuesday night.
The police sought his custody for seven days, which was rejected by the court and sent him to judicial custody till September 4. Rane’s lawyers then filed a bail plea.
The petition was heard and Rane was granted bail on a surety of Rs 15,000. He has been directed to appear in the office of the Superintendent of Police at Alibaug (Raigad) on August 30 and September 13.
Rane’s counsel Rajendra Shirodkar argued that the police did not comply with the mandate of the law laid down under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which states that in cases where there is no warrant of arrest, the police must first Notice/Summons should be issued. for interrogation of the accused.
However, the court in its order said that in this special clause such grounds have been provided when a police officer can arrest a person without notice/summon.
The magistrate, while denying the police custody of Rane, said that the alleged statement of the accused (Rane) was given in front of the media.
The informer (complainant in the case) himself alleged in the FIR that the accused made a statement in front of the media and it went viral on social media. The magistrate said in the order that in view of the nature of the offence, I do not consider it necessary to hand over the accused to police custody.
Read also: Union Minister Narayan Rane arrested after remarks against Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray
Arguing on Rane’s bail plea, Shirodkar told the court that the accused is a senior citizen with roots in the society and hence he will not abscond.
He further told the court that he had advised his client (Rane) not to make such statements publicly in future, but Rane did not accept such undertaking citing his independence.
Opposing the bail plea, the police argued that the accused was a Union cabinet minister and was making such irresponsible statements that would create disharmony in the society.
The court, in its order, directed Rane to cooperate in the investigation of the case and if the police needed the voice sample of the minister, he (Rane) would help.
The only condition is that the police will give notice to the accused seven days in advance.
The court also noted that the police did not comply with the directions given by the Bombay High Court with regard to maintaining proper case diary.
Of course, the case diary presented before me are two papers without paging, the magistrate said.
Rane faced four FIRs in Maharashtra over his remarks, triggering political controversy and protests across the state on Tuesday.
An FIR was registered in Mahad under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 189 (threatening to cause hurt to public servant), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of public peace) and 505 (statement conducive to public mischief).
Read also: History of Uddhav Thackeray-Narayan Rane’s enmity – From ‘Kombadi Chor’ to ‘Ghar Kombra’
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