Union minister Rane held for ‘slap’ remark
NEW DELHI: Union minister Narayan Rane was arrested on Tuesday after three cases were filed against him for his comments a day earlier that he wanted to “give a tight slap” to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for allegedly forgetting the year of India’s independence during a speech.
The arrest came as ruling Shiv Sena workers took to the streets across the state, put up posters against Rane, and slapped them at Pune’s Deccan Gymkhana area with footwear. Sena workers vandalised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office In Amravati and set the party’s posters on fire. Security was enhanced outside Rane’s residence in Mumbai even as BJP workers gathered there in his support.
Rane, the first central minister to be arrested in 20 years, was taken into custody in Ratnagiri district, where he was travelling as part of tours the ministers inducted into the Union council ministers in July are conducting across the country. The tours were announced after Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not introduce the ministers in Parliament last month due to Opposition protests.
Rane, who was taken to a police station, complained of high blood pressure and sugar levels and a doctor was called to examine him, PTI reported.
I said had I been there, I would have slapped him (Thackeray) for his ignorance of the year of Independence. I did not say that I would slap him
Rane was inducted in the (Union) Cabinet just to attack the Shiv Sena, and while doing his job, he stooped to a new low
The Bombay high court earlier on Tuesday rejected a plea for an urgent hearing of Rane’s anticipatory bail application as he faced arrest for his comments.
Rane moved the court as Nashik Police commissioner Deepak Pandey on Tuesday said he has ordered the formation of a team to arrest the minister and to produce him before a court. Three cases, including under India Penal Code’s sections 500 (defamation), 505(2) (mischief), 153-B (1)(c) (remarks likely to cause disharmony, or