The Thane Court Chief Judicial Magistrate will hear the bail application on May 20 after receiving reply from the Thane Crime Branch who arrested the actor for putting up a derogatory post aimed at the NCP chief.
Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale was booked for posting derogatory comments on her Facebook account allegedly aimed at Rajya Sabha member and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar.
The actor has moved to Thane court for bail after being remanded to judicial custody for 14 days by the crime branch.
The Actor filed an application filed through advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay has sought bail on the following grounds:
- The Thane Crime Branch committed serious errors by arresting Chitale on the basis of her words by applying Sections 505(2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred, or ill-will between classes) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups and doing acts prejudicial to harmony) of the Indian Penal Code.
- The complainant had no locus standi to file FIR if he is aggrieved since the poem speaks about some ‘Pawar’ and not him.
- No one named ‘Pawar’ had come forward with a complaint.
- Police had no authority to arrest Chitale without complying with issuance of notice as under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure and reiterated by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar guidelines.
- Chitale should not have been arrested under Section 500 (Defamation) of the IPC which is a non-cognizable offence.
- The police enthusiastically registered FIRs based on complaints about a poem and is likely to seek police custody in each FIR which gives rise to a serious apprehension that there is an invisible hand targeting the applicant (Chitale), the plea pointed out.“There is a concerted effort to strike fear in minds of people of Maharashtra in general and the applicant in particular so as to deter everyone against coming out with any expresino of views that would offend some ‘Pawar’,” the plea stated.
The 29-year-old Maratha actor had posted a Marathi poem on her Facebook profile attributed to another person. The poem mentioned the surname (Pawar), age (80), and physical ailments which the NCP leader is also suffering.
The crime branch police arrested the actor for making disparaging remarks about Pawar’s illness, appearance, and voice and also called him corrupt.
Chitale was detained by the police on May 14 before she was declared arrested. She was produced before a holiday Magistrate court remanded the actor to police custody till today.
Chitale moved the present bail plea today after she was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
The court will hear the bail plea by Chief Judicial Magistrate at Thane on May 20.
