Hanuman Chalisa row: Byculla officials neglected MP Navneet Rana's health issues, says husband

Independent MP Navneet Rana left Mumbai's Byculla jail at around 2pm Thursday, while her MLA husband Ravi Rana left Navi Mumbai's Taloja jail two hours later. The couple, who were held in the Hanuman Chalisa row, were granted bail on Wednesday.

Maharashtra’s independent MLA Ravi Rana on Thursday said officials of Mumbai's Byculla women’s jail did not pay attention to his MP wife Navneet Rana even after she complained of health issues and requested hospitalisation.

Maharashtra independent MP Navneet Rana walks out of Byculla Jail in Mumbai on Thursday, May 5, 2022. (HT photo by Anshuman Poyrekar)

The couple, who were arrested on April 23 for their call to chant the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray's family residence ‘Matoshree’, walked out of jail earlier in the day. They were granted bail by a Mumbai sessions court on Wednesday.

Navneet left Byculla jail around 2pm, while Ravi walked out of Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai about two hours later. The Mumbai Police had booked the lawmaker couple under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including sedition and promoting enmity between different groups.

Soon after leaving Byculla, Navneet was admitted to Lilavati hospital in Mumbai's suburban Bandra region. Ravi was seen visiting the hospital later, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya accompanying him.

On Wednesday, Navneet was taken to JJ Hospital for her spondylitis treatment and then brought back to the Byculla jail. Her lawyer had earlier provided details of her health condition, saying she had spondylitis and that the condition was deteriorating due to continuously sitting and lying on the floor of the jail.

According to Navneet's advocate, the MP was suffering from high blood pressure, body pain and spondylitis.