A Mumbai court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Hemant Palav, who allegedly made objectionable comments against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on social media
Mumbai court grants pre-arrest bail to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Hemant Palav over offensive comments against CM Shinde. Representational Picture/iStock
A Mumbai court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Hemant Palav, who allegedly made objectionable comments against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on social media.
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Additional Sessions Judge of a Mumbai court (Dindoshi) Ashish Ayachit granted pre-arrest bail to Palav on January 8 but the detailed order of the court was made available on Thursday, newswire PTI reported.
Earlier, Palav had allegedly made some objectionable comments against Shinde in response to a Facebook post of a regional daily.
On a complaint by a member of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the MIDC police registered a case against Palav under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 153A (promoting enmity) and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
In its order, the court said the "informant has lodged a report" that the comments of the accused on the post outraged the modesty of women.
“Having gone through the comments and considering the facts and the nature of offence, its punishment, I am of the considered opinion that custodial interrogation of the applicant (Palav) is not at all necessary and warranted,” the court said.
“Thus, without expressing any opinion on the merit of the case. I find that the accused deserves to be released on anticipatory bail,” it added.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday hailed the Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's ruling, declaring his faction as the "real Shiv Sena political party," as a triumph for truth and democracy, and defeat of autocracy, dictatorship and dynasty politics
While criticizing Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde, without explicitly mentioning him, characterized the Speaker's decision as a rebuke to those treating the party as a private enterprise.
Shinde was addressing a press conference in his home turf Thane.
Giving a much-awaited ruling on the cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party, Narwekar did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps.
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) later said it will approach the Supreme Court against the speaker's order.
"Satyameva Jayate...The order of the assembly speaker on Shiv Sena is a victory of truth and democracy. It is a defeat of autocracy, dictatorship and dynasty politics. It also proved that no political party, organisation can be run like a private limited company and that nobody can take decisions as per one's whims and fancies," CM Shinde said.
"The order is a tight slap on the face of those who were running the party as if it was their private limited company...This is a victory of Shiv Sainiks, Balasheb Thackeray and Anand Dighe's thoughts and principles," CM Shinde said. Dighe was Shinde's mentor.
"This victory symbolises a decisive response to those who treated the party as their private enterprise. It is a stern rebuke to them for their management of party affairs" he said.
In a democratic set-up, the majority's opinion holds significance and allegations should not replace the legitimate verdict, he added.
"Running a political party is not the same as managing a private limited company. Insecurity led to this kind of behaviour and there was blatant disregard for Balasaheb's teachings," he said, targeting Uddhav Thackeray.
He also accused the opposition of making baseless allegations against the speaker.
On the dismissal of the disqualification petition filed by his party's chief whip Bharat Gogawale, CM Shinde expressed dissatisfaction over the reason not being mentioned in the order.
The party's legal team would study the order and determine appropriate steps, he said.
Shinde hit out at the Thackeray-led faction over the conduct of its leaders, and labelled their actions as undemocratic and unbecoming.
He said the undivided Shiv Sena had fought the last assembly election with the BJP, but it betrayed the latter by forming an alliance with other parties. "People of the state will give an appropriate answer to them," he said. (With inputs from agencies)
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