Union Minister Narayan Rane was arrested on Tuesday the 25th August 2021 after being accused of a slap remark made for the Chief Minister of Maharashtra – Mr. Uddhav Thackrey. Apparently when Mr. Thackrey in the position of the Chief Minster of Maharashtra said that he did not remember the number of years since India became independent, Mr. Rane said that he should be slapped for such a remark. “It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to ask about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given him a tight slap,” Narayan Rane had said. Due to such a statement, the Shiv Sena workers had created a ruckus in most areas of Maharashtra.
A total of four FIRs were filed against Shri Narayan Rane ji under Sections 189 (threat of injury to public servant), 500 (defamation), 505(2) (mischief), 153 – B (1) (c) (remarks likely to cause disharmony or feeling of enmity or hatred or ill will) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and subsequently he was arrested in few short hours by the Ratnagiri Police and then handed over to the Nashik Police in the first half of the day.
Rane had filed an Anticipatory Bail Application with the Ratnagiri court which had rejected the plea. Later, upon filing the Anticipatory Bail Application before the Bombay High Court and requesting an urgent hearing, the Bench of Justice S S Shinde and N J Jamadar rejected the application by directing his lawyer to “follow proper procedure by filing a praecipe to get the matter listed on Board”. The matter was then listed and heard at 4.30 p.m. A request for prevention of coercive action and also arrest pending the hearing of the plea was made by his Advocate.
Mr. Rane was produced before the Magistrate Court at Mahad and was heard by Justice Shaikhbabaso S Patil. The police sought for custody of Mr. Rane which was denied by the Court. Later, a judicial custody of 14 days was declared before the Bail Application was approved. The court instructed the police to give a notice of seven (7) days before collecting the voice samples of Mr. Narayan Rane. Also Mr. Rane was instructed not to commit any similar offence in future and was granted bail at approximately 11.30 p.m. and was asked to furnish a bail bond of Rs. 15,000/- while also presenting himself at Raigad on the 30th August 2021 and 6th September 2021.