No Bombay HC relief for Narayan Rane

However, the 69-year-old was produced in a court in Mahad in Raigad on Tuesday night and granted bail

The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday refused to grant urgent hearing on the appeal against the rejection of the anticipatory bail application of Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member Narayan Rane by the Ratnagiri sessions court. The HC also did not hear a separate petition seeking quashing of the three first information reports (FIR) registered against Rane at various police stations for making inappropriate comments against chief minister Uddhav Thackeray during a speech at Raigad on Monday in the course of the Jan Ashirwad Yatra.

Narayan Rane interacts with the media during an event in Chiplun, hours before his arrest on Tuesday. (Anil Phalke/HT )

According to sources, the registry of the HC sought the original copy of the order by the Ratnagiri court, before allowing the filing of the appeal. Sources also said that after getting the original copy of the court order, attempts would be made to file the appeal and get an urgent hearing on Wednesday. The appeal filed by advocate Aniket Nikam was mentioned before a bench of justice SS Shinde and justice NJ Jamadar, even as Rane was taken into custody by Sangameshwar police station. However, the court directed Nikam to follow due procedure before approaching the court. Nikam approached the bench of HC soon after the lunch hour concluded at 2.30pm, and mentioned the two applications seeking anticipatory bail and quashing of the FIRs filed against Rane at Pune, Nashik and Mahad. Rane has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code which including section 500 (defamation), 505(2) (intent to incite), 153 (b) (1) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration).

While speaking to the media, Nikam said as the maximum sentence for the offences under which Rane was booked was seven years, the MP was eligible for bail. He further added that the police failed to issue a notice, as stipulated under section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), before taking Rane into custody, which was a procedural lapse.

The offence at Nashik has been registered by the cyber police under sections 500, 505(2), 153 (b) (1) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the complaint of the local unit chief of Shiv Sena. Following the registration of the complaint, the police commissioner of Nashik issued an order to arrest the minister and formed a team. In Pune, the FIR has been registered under sections 153 and 505 of the IPC, following a complaint by a member of the Yuva Sena and the third FIR in Mahad was also registered on a complaint from Siddesh Patekar, a Yuva Sena office holder.