Political angle behind sedition charge against Rana couple: Lawyer tells Mumbai court

The sedition charge against Independent Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana and her MLAhusband Ravi Rana in Maharashtra was invoked due to political upheaval their lawyer told a special court here on Thursday while opposing a police plea seeking cancellation of their bail in a case related to Hanuman Chalisa recitationBoth the defence and prosecution completed their arguments on the plea on Thursday following which special Judge R N Rokade posted the matter for order on August 22Opposing the bail cancellation plea advocate Rizwan Mechant appearing for the Ranas said the Indian Penal Code IPC section 124A sedition was invoked against the couple as a result of political upheaval between two groupsBut the Supreme Court has stayed every case under the sedition charge so they prosecution cannot ask for a review of that orderiquest All that remains now is IPC section 153A promoting enmity he saidOn May 11 the apex court put on hold the colonialera penal law on sedition till an appropriate government forum reexamines it and directed the Centre and states to not register any fresh FIR invoking the offenceIn one of the cases registered by the Mumbai police the Rana couple was booked under IPC sections 124A and also 153A promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion race place of birth residence language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmonyThe Ranas were arrested by the police in Mumbai on April 23 after they announced that they will recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside the thenMaharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackerays private residence Matoshree in suburban Bandra leading to protests by Shiv Sena workersOn May 5 Judge Rokade granted the Ranas bail with certain conditions one of which prevented the lawmakercouple from Amravati from making any statement related to the case to the mediaA few days later the police approached the special court seeking that the bail of Navneet Rana the Lok Sabha MP from Amravati and Ravi Rana the Independent MLA from the same district in eastern Maharashtra be cancelled as they had allegedly violated bail conditionsReferring to the media interaction the couple had after coming out of the prison special public prosecutor Pradip Gharat argued that the duo had breached the bail condition of not speaking to reporters on the case and hence they should be sent back to judicial custodyThe moment they speak to the media on a subject related to the case their bail stands cancelled Gharat arguedHowever Merchant submitted that the alleged media interview mentioned in the plea was not in respect to the subject matter of the caseThis was a single incident and thereafter there was no interview Merchant submittedThe interview was not produced before the court should have seen the interview in totality the defence counsel saidThe press is a medium to reach out to the public this is not an act to insult the court the lawyer arguedPeoples freedom can be curtailed only if there is an extreme step and this interview was not one such act it did not amount to interference in probe or inciting the public to create law and order situation Merchant saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever