Hanuman Chalisa- Sedition Row: Court Rejects Mumbai Police's Plea For Cancellation Of Rana Couple's Bail

A Special Court in Mumbai has rejected an application filed by the Mumbai police seeking cancellation of bail granted to Independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana in connection with the Hanuman Chalisa row.

Special Judge RN Rokade said the application filed by the city police is rejected. A detailed order would be made available later.

Navneet Rana, Lok Sabha member from Amravati in Maharashtra, and her husband Ravi Rana, a legislator from Badnera in Amravati, were arrested by Mumbai police on April 23 after they announced they would recite Hanuman Chalisa outside then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' in Bandra.

They were booked on charges of sedition and prompting enmity between different groups. The duo was granted bail on May 5 by the special court, which had imposed several conditions on them, including not giving statements related to the case to the media.

The Court had also said their bail would be forfeited if any of the conditions was violated.

A few days later police approached the special court seeking that their bail be cancelled as they had made statements to the media on the case. The police had sought that the couple be taken into custody.

The couple had opposed the police's application and said they had neither interfered with the probe, nor made any public statement related to the case.

The duo also claimed the police had failed to give a "cogent reason" for seeking cancellation of bail.

With PTI inputs