Had no intention to vilify, humiliate or incite hatred against Maharashtra CM, says Narayan Rane

Union minister Narayan Rane was arrested for his statement that he would have given Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray a “tight slap” for apparently missing the count of years of India’s Independence.

Union minister Narayan Rane on Tuesday said that he did not have any intention to vilify, humiliate or incite hatred against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Bombay High Court will be hearing Rane's petition seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him at Dhule city.

Rane prayed that pending the hearing of the plea, the court should direct the Dhule city police not to take any coercive action against him and that they should not file a chargesheet.On August 23, 2021, Rane while addressing a press conference in Raigad, said that he would have slapped the Maharashtra Chief minister for “not knowing how many years it has been since India gained Independence”. Over slapping comments, a bunch of FIRs were registered against Rane across Maharashtra. The FIR at Dhule was registered on August 24.Rane's plea filed through advocate Satish Maneshinde stated that though Dhule comes under the jurisdiction of Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court, the cause of action [the press conference by Rane] falls under the jurisdiction of the Principal Bench of the Bombay High Court.Rane's plea stated that the allegations levelled in the FIR are false, politically motivated and the complainant belongs to Shiv Sena. Rane stated that, by no stretch of imagination, it could be said that his conduct has promoted enmity between different groups, nor did he commit any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups.

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Rane also stated that the words uttered by him at the press conference did not provoke or incite disharmony.The plea further added that Rane never had "any intent to promote hatred, violence or resentment against the Chief Minister of Maharashtra or any particular class or group. Nor did Rane have any intention to vilify, humiliate or incite hatred against the Chief Minister."The plea further adds that the "effect of the words must be judged by the standard of reasonable, strong-minded, firm and courageous men, not by those who are weak, one's with a vacillating mind, nor of those who scent danger from every hostile point of view."Rane added that the registration of many FIRs against him was "nothing but a brazen attempt to muzzle freedom of speech."Rane had received a notice from Dhule police on March 10 in which he was informed that the chargesheet was going to be filed against him so he should be present before the court.