Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana will stay in jail until the next hearing. A Mumbai sessions court on Tuesday directed the Special Public Prosecutor to file a reply on their bail applications on April 29. The court said that it will hear their bail pleas on April 29 itself.
"The next hearing is on April 29, by then we will file a reply. We will ask the police then why the sedition charge was added. Also, a withdrawal of plea is under process at the Bombay High Court," senior advocate Rizwan Merchant, representing the couple, said.
Navneet and Ravi were arrested on Saturday after they gave a call for the chanting of Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence in Mumbai. Later, they were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
An FIR was registered against Navneet and Ravi under section 153A of the Indian Penal Code. Section 153 A is imposed against those found indulging in "wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc of any particular group or class or upon the founders and prophets of a religion."
Navneet Rana represents Amravati in the Lok Sabha. Her husband Ravi Rana is a lawmaker from the Badnera Assembly seat in the Amravati district.
Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry has sought a factual report from the Maharashtra government over Navneet Rana's allegation about her arrest and "inhumane treatment" by the police.
"The Home Ministry sought a factual report from the Maharashtra government on Rana's allegation about her arrest and inhuman treatment allegedly meted out at Mumbai's Khar police station," a Ministry official told PTI.
The move came after the Lok Sabha Privilege and Ethics Committee asked the Home Ministry to seek a report from the Maharashtra government.
Also Read | Police used casteist slur, denied using washroom, water: Arrested MP Navneet Rana writes to Om Birla
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