Objectionable post on Sharad Pawar: Ketaki Chitale moves Bombay HC for bail

Mumbai: Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale, arrested last month for allegedly sharing an objectionable post on social media about NCP chief Sharad Pawar, has approached the Bombay High Court seeking that the FIR lodged against her by Thane police to quashed and she be released from jail.

The actor, who is currently in judicial custody, in her petition filed on Monday claimed she was being targeted with an objective to create a fear in the minds of people, and dubbed the FIR lodged against her as an "abuse of the process of law".

She urged the HC to quash the FIR, declare her arrest as illegal and violative of her fundamental rights and release her from jail forthwith. The plea is likely to be heard on June 10.

Chitale (29) was arrested on May 14 and booked under various Indian Penal Code sections for defamation and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race.

The film and TV actor was arrested by the Thane police last month over the post she allegedly shared on her Facebook page, which was in verse form and purportedly written by someone else.

It contained phrases like "hell is waiting" and "you hate Brahmins", allegedly referring to Pawar, whose party shares power in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena and Congress.