Court issues notice to Rana couple after police seek bail cancellation
The Hindu
They had violated the bail condition of speaking to the media about the case: Special Public Prosecutor
The City Civil and Sessions Court on Monday issued notice to independent member of parliament (MP) Navneet Kaur Rana and her husband, MLA Ravi Rana, in the Hanuman Chalisa hymn row, after Mumbai Police sought cancellation of their bail.
On May 4, Special Judge R.N. Rokade had granted bail to the couple on a bond of ₹50,000 and directed them to not speak to the media about the case. Ms. Rana and Mr. Rana were arrested on April 23 for declaring that they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside ‘Matoshree’, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence. They have been booked under Sections 124A (sedition) and Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of the Indian Penal Code.
On Monday, Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat moved an application before the same Bench and pointed out that the couple had violated the bail condition of speaking to the media about the case. He said they had spoken to the media and violated the condition; it would therefore lead to cancellation of bail. Ms. Rana had made a statement directed to the CM and said: “I challenge you to stand for election opposite me in any constituency and to win the election which you would not, since you don’t know the power of women, which I will show you.”
“Her statement is a direct threat. Therefore, our application is not for cancellation of bail; it is for issuance of non-bailable warrant as the order stipulates that violation of condition would lead to cancellation forthwith,” Mr. Gharat said. “If they have grievances, they should have raised appropriate remedies before the court. They have gone to Delhi now, and even then, they gave interviews in the press,” he added.
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.