• Thursday, March 28, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

‘Slap CM’ remark: Arrested Modi minister gets bail

Narayan Rane (C) (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

INDIAN cabinet minister Narayan Rane was on Tuesday (24) released on bail, nearly nine hours after arrest by Maharashtra Police for threatening to slap the state’s chief minister – Uddhav Thackeray. The minister of micro, small and medium enterprises was arrested during a public relations campaign in Sangameshwar in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra and members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the senior leader was given an inhuman treatment during and after his arrest. The saffron party said that while it did not agree with Rane’s words on Thackeray, his arrest violated constitutional procedures.

Rane, 69, got bail in Mahad in Raigad district of the western Indian state.

The BJP leader, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha and took over a minister in the Narendra Modi government in July, attacked Thackeray on Monday (23) saying the latter did not know the year of India’s independence.

ALSO READ: Narendra Modi cabinet minister Narayan Rane arrested

“It is shameful that the Chief Minister does not know the year of Independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap,” Rane, who was once in the Shiv Sena which now leads the government in Maharashtra and also served as its chief minister in the 1990s, told reporters in Mahad.

His remarks left the Sena leaders and workers, who are known for their politics of muscle power, livid. Protests occurred across the state and stones were pelted at Rane’s house in the Juhu area of Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra.

At least five first information reports (FIRs) were filed by the Sena against Rane over his remarks and according to the district officials in Raigad, four were still against him.
Rane told reporters on Tuesday morning that he had not committed any crime and hence there were no regrets.

However, no court agreed to issue the parliamentarian a pre-arrest bail. He also approached the Bombay High Court, seeking quashing of multiple FIRs registered over his remarks but was not granted any emergency hearing.

Rane arrest justified, says court

Meanwhile, a court in Mahad said Rane’s arrest was “justified” and asked him not to repeat his act. According to ANI news agency, while sending the BJP leader to magisterial custodial remand till September 4, the court judicial magistrate first class SS Patil said, “Considering reason of arrest and reasons discussed above [in the order], I found that arrest is justified.”

Shortly after Rane got the magisterial custody for 10 days, his legal team comprising lawyers Rajendra Shirodkar and Sangram Desai applied for the bail which was granted by the magistrate late on Tuesday, who also imposed several conditions.

Assistant public prosecutor Prakash Joshi and his team of lawyers were opposed to the bail, saying the accused is a central minister who could make similar statements jeopardising harmony among people.

The court said “no prejudice will be caused to the prosecution if the accused (Rane) is released on bail on certain terms and conditions”.

Rane told the Mahad court that he was not ill-treated by the police and was ready to cooperate with the investigators.

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