Hanuman Chalisa row was part of a plan to ensure collapse of Thackeray government, police tell court

The Mumbai Police on Friday opposed the bail application filed by Independent MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana in a sedition case, Bar and Bench reported.

The police alleged that the couple’s attempt to recite the Hanuman Chalisa – a hymn dedicated to Hindu deity Hanuman – in front of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s home was part of a plan to ensure the collapse of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state.

The police claimed that the plan was formed by the Bhartiya Janata Party and political opponents of Thackeray to project him as an “anti-Hindu” to the public, PTI reported.

“BJP leaders who have been deprived from power are strongly opposing the administrative policies of the present government and criticising Shiv Sena for their stand on Hindutva,” the police told the court, according to Live Law.

The Mumbai Police made the claims in an affidavit filed through special public prosecutor Pradip Gharat in the case.

Even though the couple did not go ahead with their plan to recite the Hanuman Chalisa, the police arrested them on April 23 and filed two first information reports on charges of sedition, promoting enmity and assaulting a public servant to prevent discharge of duty. They have been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

In Friday’s affidavit before the court, the police alleged that the couple wanted to promote hostility among different classes of citizens.

The police also defended their decision to charge the couple under the law of sedition.

“When the use of words has the pernicious tendency or intention of creating public disorder or disturbance of law and order then the provisions of sedition are attracted,” the police said.

The police also opposed their bail plea saying that the accused were influential persons who could tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.

The court will hear the couple’s bail plea on Saturday.