The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by independent Member of Parliament Navneet Kaur Rana and her husband, Member of Legislative Assembly Ravi Rana, seeking to quash an FIR against them in the Hanuman Chalisa row.
A Division Bench of Justices P.B. Varale and S.M. Modak said the petitioners were active politically and expected to behave responsibly. "Great power comes with great responsibility, the expectation of responsible conduct of those persons who have an active life is a reasonable expectation," it remarked.
The Bench went on to say, "The declaration that they are reading religious verses in someone else’s house or even in public space, such an act is infringing public liberty of the other persons. The State is right to invoke provisions apprehending law and order situations. If the petitioners are law abiding citizens then there was no prohibition against them to extend co-operation to police and avail legal remedies against the State," it held.
The court said that in case the government was desirous of initiating any action against the petitioners, then they shall issue 72 hours notice against them before taking such action.
On April 22, Mrs. and Mr. Rana said they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s bungalow, Matoshree, and an FIR was registered against them on April 23. They are currently in jail.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the Ranas seeking to quash the second FIR against them under section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Advocate Rizwan Merchant, appearing for the Ranas, stated that there were two FIRs against them. One was under section 124A (sedition) and section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of the IPC. ‘‘Then why not add section 353 too, why have another FIR?”
The court noted that the occurrences in both the FIRs seemed to be different. When Mr. Merchant said she was badly treated, it said, “We are at pains to say that what we observe falls on deaf ears. We had earlier observed [on hearing Narayan Rane’s plea seeking to quash FIR against him] that persons occupying responsible positions have to behave with responsibility and respect”.
Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said reading of the Hanuman Chalisa was just a veil and under it they wanted to challenge the State machinery. It was a very cold and calculated move, he observed.
