On Tuesday, 24th August 2021, Union Minister Narayan Rao Rane approached the Bombay High Court with his quashing petition to protect him from arrest against the various first information reports (FIRs) registered against him across the state for his "slapping" remark made for the maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Rane had sparked off a row over his remarks about slapping CM Thackeray for what he claimed was the latter's ignorance of the year of India's independence.
The bench of justices NJ JAMADAR and SS SHINDE refused to entertain his plea and asked him to file his praecipe(an order requesting a writ or other legal document) as per the procedure.
Aniket Nikam, the advocate for Narayan Rao Rane said he is seeking directions to the registery to allow him to file the petition based on a signed scanned copy of the petition and fix the matter for hearing tomorrow i.e;wednesday 25th August 2021.
Advocate Aniket Nikam sought to file a plea for an urgent hearing on Tuesday, 24th August 2021, just before rane's arrest as the petition was not filed. The high court said the petition has to be filed first.
Nikam said the arrest is “illegal’’ as the mandatory procedure requiring a prior notice under section 41A of the Criminal procedure code(crpc), 1986 has to be complied with.
The section requires a notice to be issued to a person for his or her appearance at the police station to give an explaination before any arrest and the arrest can be made only after citing and recording reasons.
However, the bench refused. "Please follow the procedure. Don't make us do the job of the registry," Justice Shinde said. "We cannot interfere with the court's procedure of the registry. If there is an urgency we will list the matter on the next day," Justice Shinde said.
The FIRs against Rane were registered in Mahad, Nashik Cyber police station and Pune, also one in Thane on Tuesday, pursuant to a press conference he held on August 23.
The FIR in Thane invoked section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 for defamation and section 505 (2) (promoting enmity or ill-will between classes) and 153 (b) (1) (c) (statements to promote disharmony or ill will). The maximum punishment is less than seven years’ imprisonment.
