Court grants bail to Ranas; couple to be released from prison today
MUMBAI: A sessions court in Mumbai on Wednesday granted bail to independent MP Navneet Rana and her Mla-husband Ravi Rana, who were arrested on charges of sedition and promoting enmity after announcing to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence last month.
However, the couple, who are presently lodged in jail, will be released on Thursday after formalities pertaining to their bail are completed, their counsel Rizwan Merchant said.
Additional sessions judge R N Rokade granted the bail to the couple on furnishing a personal bond of ₹50,000 each and with one or two sureties in the same amount. The court granted the duo eight weeks to produce the sureties and allowed their release on provisional cash bail.
The court also directed the couple not to commit a similar offence while on bail, and not address press on any subject related to the matter, which has triggered a political row across the state. It also asked them to make themselves available for the investigation, as and when required.
“Breach of the conditions will entail cancellation of the bail forthwith,” the court order, a copy of which HT has seen, said.
“The court has granted bail to Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana. By the time the documents reached the concerned magistrate court in Borivali, the court timing was over. Hence, the remaining process will be completed on Thursday morning,” the couple’s counsel, Rizwan Merchant, said.
Welcoming the court’s bail order, BJP leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the decision to invoke the sedition charge against the couple was stupidity.
“There cannot be anything more stupid than arresting someone for reciting the Hanuman Chalisa. This was foolishness of the government and the grant of bail establishes that,” the former chief minister told reporters in Nagpur.