Hanuman Chalisa row: Navneet and Ravi Rana's lawyer calls case ‘bogus’, explains why

The political unrest in Maharashtra has intensified with the couple's arrest.

Published on: Apr 24, 2022, 17:02:48 IST

By HT News Desk | Written by Manjiri Sachin Chitre | Edited by Aniruddha Dhar

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Soon after Amravati MP Navneet Kaur Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana were arrested and sent to judicial custody for 14 days on Sunday, their advocate Rizwan Merchant called the case “an entire bogus”. The Maharashtra MP-MLA couple was detained on Saturday over allegedly inciting the public after they gave a warning to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray that they will chant ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ outside his Bandra home - ‘Matoshree’.

Independent Lok Sabha MP from Amravati Navneet Kaur Rana and her husband and Independent MLA. (ANI Photo) (Deepak Salvi)

Merchant, who had represented actor Sanjay Dutt in the past, stressed the details of the case and the IPC sections that it falls under.

The couple has been booked under IPC 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 34 (common intention) of the IPC and section 135 (violation of prohibitory orders of police) of the Maharashtra Police Act.

The police also added section 353 of the IPC later in a second FIR which means "assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty".

Interacting with the media, Merchant said, “Hanuman Chalisa is nothing but praise of Lord Ram and Hanuman - the place where Hanuman Chalisa was supposed to be chanted was outside the house of people who claim to love Lord Ram; the question of wanting to chant Hanuman Chalisa should not be affecting them at all.”

Also read: Hanuman Chalisa row: Our aim is fulfilled, though.., says Navneet Rana

Adding that chanting of Hanuman Chalisa “cannot fall under section 153A”, Merchant said the “entire case is bogus”. “They have a very strong feeling that they are standing on loose grounds. They know of the possibility of release on bail and have thus prepared a second FIR,” he added.

Pointing out the second FIR, the advocate said, “If the charge of 353 IPC was made out with respect to the incident at the residence, there's no reason why that charge couldn't have been added in the first FIR of 500. The arrest memo also does not show the charge of 353.”

Also read: Hanuman Chalisa row: Maharashtra lawmakers Ravi Rana, Navneet Rana arrested

The political unrest in Maharashtra has intensified with the couple's arrest. Shortly before the arrest, Navneet Rana had slammed Uddhav Thackeray and his party. Calling Shiv Sena a party of “goons”, she had said that “Uddhav Thackeray only knows how to file offences against people and put them behind bars.”

(With inputs from ANI)

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