The Mumbai Police on Saturday arrested MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana from their house in Khar. This came hours after the couple planned to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside the house of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. They had later cancelled their plan.
According to the police, both of them have been booked under IPC section 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), and section 135 of the Mumbai Police Act (violation of prohibitory orders of police).
Reacting to the arrests of Navneet Rana and her husband, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis said, “Heart wrenching incidents in Maharashtra.
When there is no action on attacks on @BJP4Mumbai’s #PolKhol Yatra & total ignorance towards threatening remarks for woman by #MVA leaders,MVA slapped IPC 153(A) on MP Navneet Rana & Ravi Rana who just came for chanting of #HanumanChalisa.”
Absolutely shocking ❗️
A lady can’t be kept in custody at night.
Utter disregard to SCorders about detention of women.
Such extreme dictatorship❓
No right to speak on rampant corruption of MVA❓
Why are those completely silent who often speak on democratic values ❓#Maharashtra— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) April 23, 2022
In his subsequent tweet, the former Maharashtra chief minister wrote, “Absolutely shocking ❗️ A lady can’t be kept in custody at night. Utter disregard to SCorders about detention of women. Such extreme dictatorship❓ No right to speak on rampant corruption of MVA❓ Why are those completely silent who often speak on democratic values ❓ #Maharashtra.”
Supporters of the ruling Shiv Sena had gathered outside the house of the Rana couple to stage a protest against them before their arrest.
Navneet Rana is an independent MP from Amravati, while her husband is an independent MLA from Badnera in Amravati district.