Hanuman Chalisa row: Mumbai Police directed to reply to bail pleas of MP Navneet Rana and MLA Ravi Rana

The Mumbai Police have been directed to reply to the bail pleas filed by MP Navneet Rana and MLA Ravi Rana in the FIR accusing them of sedition, after their threats of reciting Hanuman Chalisa outside CM Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence.

Special Judge R. N. Rokde issued the order, saying, "File your say by April 29. If time permits, then [the] matter will be heard [on the] same date."

Earlier on Monday, the two legislators arrested in the Hanuman Chalisa recital row approached the sessions court for bail stating in their common application that their arrests were made under pressure and out of political vendetta.

They have withdrawn their bail applications before a Bandra magistrate court that were to be heard on Friday. The court had remanded them in judicial custody on Sunday.

Their pleas filed before the sessions court stated that their arrests were made under pressure, in a high-handed manner, unnecessarily out of political opposition and vendetta and in the absence of any reason or justification. The pleas further claimed that the arrest was made in a hasty manner without any investigation.

The registration of the FIR against them is “completely arbitrary” they said and done with “malafide intention”. In an application filed through advocate Rizwan Merchant, they said that even a single day of further incarceration would amount to travesty of justice. The government cannot afford to be hypersensitive, nor impervious to criticism, they added.