Hanuman Chalisa Row: Navneet, Ravi Rana Granted Bail, Not To Be Released Today

The couple was booked after they had announced their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside 'Matoshree'.

The Quint
India
Updated:
<div class="paragraphs"><p>MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana.</p></div>
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MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana.

(Photo: PTI)

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Maharashtra MLA Ravi Rana and MP Navneet Rana, who were arrested and booked for sedition for attempting to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside the Maharashtra chief minister's house, were granted bail, but will not be released from jail on Wednesday, 4 May, as their release orders could not be obtained in time.

The Ranas' legal team will obtain the release orders from the magistrate court on Thursday morning and then move to Byculla and Taloja prisons, reported news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, Navneet Rana was taken to Mumbai's JJ Hospital by police at around 1.20 pm after she complained of neck pain.

She has been referred to the Orthopaedics Department of the hospital, where evaluation is being carried out, the hospital authorities told ANI.

The couple had created a stir in Maharashtra after they attempted to chant Hanuman Chalisa with their supporters outside 'Matoshree', the private residence of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray.

The couple was earlier allowed to be released on bail by a Mumbai Sessions court.

According to Bar & Bench, bail was granted upon furnishing a bail bond of Rs 50,000 each. The couple has also been ordered not to engage with the media over the matter or commit "similar offences" in the future.

The Ranas have been booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The arrest on 23 April came after the Ranas had called off their plans for protest, following which they were remanded to 14-day judicial custody on 24 April.

The Bombay High Court on 25 April dismissed their petition for quashing the FIR registered against them for allegedly resisting arrest over the row.

The bail hearing was first deferred by the court on 30 April, to 2 May, and then to 4 May again.

Senior advocate Abad Ponda, who represented the Ranas in court, had argued how going to Matoshree was not a 'seditious act'.

(With inputs from Bar & Bench.)

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Published: 04 May 2022,11:49 AM IST

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