In a case involving his contentious statement made in 2021 against the then-chief minister Udhav Thackeray, Government minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narayan Rane has been released by a magistrate court in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.
Rane was charged in 2021 with violating Indian Criminal Code Sections 189 (threat to injure a public official), 504 (intentional insult to induce disruption of public peace), and 505 at Mahad in Raigad (statements conducive to public mischief).
For saying he would have smacked Thackeray for not knowing the year of India’s independence, Rane was taken into custody in the coastal Ratnagiri district.
A judge eventually granted bail for him. The BJP leader was released from the charges on Saturday by Chief Judicial Magistrate (Raigad-Alibaug) S W Ugale.
“Rane apparently made a comment on the behavior of the (then) chief minister. He didn’t make any remarks that encouraged hostility between various groups on the basis of race, religion, national origin, place of birth, residence, language, caste, community, or any other basis at all “During the hearing of the discharge application, his attorney Satish Maneshinde had made a submission.
The counsel had also stated that the alleged comment was unlikely to promote discord or emotions of animosity, hate, or malice amongst religious, racial, linguistic, or regional groups, castes, or communities.
Maneshinde had claimed that the lawsuit was politically motivated and hence unjust.
Rane is the subject of four FIRs in Maharashtra as a result of his divisive statement.
The Union minister had said, “It is shameful that the chief minister (Uddhav Thackeray) does not know the year of independence. Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech “In his August 15 address to the state’s citizens, he had alleged that Thackeray had overlooked the year of independence.
Rane had justified his criticism of Thackeray by asserting that he had not broken any laws by expressing what he said.
From November 2019 until June 2022, Thackeray was Maharashtra’s chief minister.
