Independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana were remanded to 14-day judicial custody till May 6 by a holiday court in Mumbai’s Bandra on April 24.

The court refused to hold an immediate hearing on their bail plea It will now be heard on April 29.

Ms. Navneet Rana, who is the MP from Amravati and Mr. Rana, an Independent legislator from Badnera (one of eight Assembly seats in Amravati district) were arrested by Mumbai Police on April 23 for “promoting enmity between different groups and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony”.

Mr. Ravi Rana will be sent to the Arthur Road Jail, while Ms. Rana will be lodged in Byculla Jail till the hearing of their bail plea.

Section 153A, along with sections 35, 37, 135 of Bombay Police Act, were slapped against the couple in the FIR lodged by the Khar police, who arrested them on April 23 following the Ranas’ provocation to play the Hanuman Chalisa in front of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence ‘Matoshree’.

While the Ranas, who eventually called off their enterprise in the face of Shiv Sena aggression, said they were taking back their plan in the face of PM Modi’s Mumbai visit today, the Mumbai police acted with alacrity to have them in custody by Saturday evening.

The ruling tripartite ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ (MVA) Government of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress have censured the duo’s actions by accusing them of deliberately heightening tensions in the State.

While Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, in a thinly veiled jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), suggested a bigger hand behind the Rana couple’s motivations, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that despite repeated efforts on part of the Mumbai police to make them understand, the Rana husband-wife remained adamant on their protest.

“At a time when the MVA Cabinet is trying its best to maintain law and order in Maharashtra, no persons or parties should try to needlessly create new problems,” said Mr. Pawar, speaking in Nashik.

Given that Ms. Navneet Rana and Mr. Ravi Rana were elected representatives of Amravati and Badnera respectively, they ought to have acted responsibly and paid heed to the police’s warnings.

“No one is stopping them from reciting the Hanuman Chalisa at their home or in the temple. But despite knowing the intense sentiments that Shiv Sainiks have for the Matoshree residence and the late [Sena founder] Bal Thackeray, why did th

ey have to come all the way from Amravati to Mumbai making these provocative statements,” said the Deputy Chief Minister.
After the Sena leaders warned the Ranas of ‘retaliation’ if they attempted to come near ‘Matoshree’, hundreds of Shiv Sena workers had barged in to the society at Khar in Mumbai where the couple were residing.

After their arrest, the Ranas too filed a complaint against Mr. Thackeray, Sena leader Sanjay Raut and Sena Minister Anil Parab, holding them responsible should any harm come to them.