Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale has filed a fresh petition before the Bombay High Court seeking that her arrest and detention by the Kalwa police on May 14 be declared “illegal” and in “breach of the law”.
Chitale was arrested by Kalwa police on May 14 after she allegedly uploaded an objectionable social media post about NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The actor is facing 22 FIRs and 4 non-cognizable offences in Maharashtra because of her one social media post.
Earlier, she had filed a petition in the HC seeking a stay on the investigation in these cases.
In her fresh petition filed through advocates Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Yogesh Deshpande, Chitale has alleged that her arrest and the subsequent remand by the magistrate were illegal and in breach of Supreme Court judgment. The SC has said that the police should issue a notice to a person under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code instead of directly arresting them. As per section 41A of the CrPC, the police may issue summons to the accused person and record his/her statement in cases where the arrest is not warranted.
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In Chitale’s case, she was arrested on the same day as a complaint was registered by one Swapnil Netke. Her plea contends that she received a call from the Kalamboli police station in Thane asking her to come to the police station. Being a law-abiding citizen, she complied. The officials of the Kalwa Police Station were present there and they took her into custody, said her advocate Deshpande.
The actor’s plea contends that she did not understand the nitty-gritties of law and when she was asked to sign certain papers at the Kalamboli police station, on the pretext that it was a formality, she again complied.
Chitale has alleged in her plea that when she was “brought out from the Kalamboli Police station to get into a police vehicle of Kalwa Police, a mob led by a woman leader of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) attacked the police party, assaulted her and also outraged her modesty”.
The actor will be filing separate appropriate proceedings to seek justice with reference to the said crime committed against her by workers of NCP. She has said that she has been trying to register an FIR in the alleged crime from behind the bars, but the police department is trying to scuttle her efforts in getting the FIR registered.
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