Relief for Rane father-son duo, court says ‘police machinery should not act as tool in hands of government’

Mumbai: A Dindoshi sessions court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane and his MLA son Nitesh Rane in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Disha Salian’s mother.

The court observed in its detailed order that the police machinery is not expected to act as a tool in the hands of the government and that there appears substance in submissions of Rane’s advocate that there was some political intervention.

The complaint had stemmed from statements made in a press conference on the circumstances surrounding Salian’s death, who worked as a talent manager for late actor Sushant Singh Rajput. She had died of suicide shortly before the actor’s death. The Rane father-son duo had alleged that it was a case of murder and had also drawn attention to certain alleged incidents before the murder. Salian’s mother alleged these statements led to people suspecting her daughter’s character and she filed a criminal defamation complaint against them.

The Malvani police, where the offence is registered, had opposed relief and said the father-son duo had given evasive answers when they appeared for questioning before it. It said further that they were trying to aid and abet the culprits, if any.

Additional Sessions Judge SU Baghele said in the detailed order that the court fails to understand how some offences have been invoked by the police against the Ranes such as Sec 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult a woman’s modesty) and Sec 506 (II) (punishment for criminal intimidation). Stating that there seems to be substance in the submission of their advocate Satish Maneshinde that there appears to be some political intervention, the court noted that the two are said to have been interrogated for a considerable duration.

It pointed out further that the State machinery engaged the services of a Special Public Prosecutor and that these factors, apart from some other factors which it said are not being dealt with in the order, prima facie depict an unprecedented manner of dealing with the alleged crime, by the state machinery.

Judge Baghele further said that the state machinery is not expected to deprive any person of his personal liberty and the police machinery or any other investigating agency is not expected to act as a tool in the hands of the government, but is expected to work without fear and favour, while discharging its function of investigation. It is unfortunate, the court said, that the investigating agencies have to function under governments.

The nature of the allegations does not speak of the gravity of the alleged crime, it said, concluding that the custodial interrogation of the applicants is not at all warranted, in relation to the allegations. Regarding their not co-operating with the probe and revealing how they made some revelations on the cause of death, the court said the alleged abstention from answering the questions in relation to some other alleged crime, cannot amount to their non-co-operation in the present offence.

Published on: Wednesday, March 16, 2022, 11:25 PM IST