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Hanuman Chalisa row: No relief for Rana couple, court reserves order for May 2
Advocate Abad Ponda, who appeared for MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana, told a Mumbai's Sessions court during Saturday's hearing that the sole “intent to commit a crime” cannot be punished.
Maharashtra independent MP Navneet Rana, and her MLA husband Ravi Rana will continue to remain in jail after a Mumbai Sessions court on Saturday reserved its order for further hearing on May 2. The couple was arrested on April 23 following their call to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree - the family residence of Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray.
Although the Rana couple later dismissed their call to chant the hymn, they were booked by Mumbai Police on charges of sedition.
During Saturday's hearing, advocates Rizwan Merchant and Abad Ponda appeared for the Rana couple, while SPP Pradeep Gharat argued for Mumbai's Khar police station.
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Ponda said that had the Rana couple given a call to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside a mosque, it would have been understandably questionable for triggering possibilities of “religious tensions”. “But giving a call to chant it (Hanuman Chalisa) outside Matoshree doesn't fan any communal tension,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Advocate Ponda further stated that the sole “intent to commit a crime” cannot be punished. “Executing some intent and actually committing an offense can be punished,” he added.
"Criticism of government is the essence of democracy. In fact, democracy is a criticism of the govt," Ponda told the Sessions court, quoting an order by the Supreme Court on a case of sedition.
Gharat, meanwhile, said that while chanting Hanuman Chalisa is indeed one's right, it has to be kept in mind if the act is “legal” and that permissions and consent for the same are taken by the person at whose residence chanting will be done.
“Ultimate aim was to create a situation where this govt (Maharashtra regime) collapses,” Gharat was quoted as saying by ANI.
He also told the Sessions court that the Rana couple is booked in several other cases. “MLA Ravi Rana has been booked in 17 cases earlier and MP Navneet Rana in six cases. An attempt to murder charge is on Ravi Rana,” Gharat said.
On Friday, a magistrate's court rejected the Rana couple's applications seeking homemade food in jail. They had filed applications for the same on Thursday. They are currently in judicial custody, with Navneet lodged in Mumbai's Byculla women's prison, while Ravi is in Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.
Navneet is an MP from Amravati and Ravi is an MLA from Badnera in eastern Maharashtra.
