The Mumbai Police on Tuesday dismissed Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana's allegations of "inhumane treatment" in police custody and posted a video on Twitter, which showed the MP and her MLA husband, Ravi Rana having tea inside the police station.
“Do we say anything more,” Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey asked while posting the video on the micro-blogging site.
Do we say anything more pic.twitter.com/GuUxldBKD5
— Sanjay Pandey (@sanjayp_1) April 26, 2022
Reacting to the video clip, Navneet issued a clarification through her lawyer claiming that the ill-treatment was meted out to her in the lock-up of the Santacruz police station after her arrest last Saturday, and not at the Khar police station. However, in her earlier letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the Amravati MP had claimed that she was meted with "inhuman treatment" in the Khar police station.
Navneet and Ravi Rana were arrested on Saturday after they announced their plan to chant 'Hanuman Chalisa' in front of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's residence in Mumbai. The arrest was made in the evening even as the couple withdrew their decision following angry protests by Shiv Sena workers who laid siege to their house in suburban Khar.
The lawmaker couple was booked for sedition besides other charges.
“I just want to clarify that the tweet of Sanjay Pandey sir is about the time spent by my client at the Khar police station after being arrested. The officers did offer tea, there is no doubt about it. But they (the Rana couple) were at the Khar police station till 1 AM. Approximately, after 1 AM, they (the Rana couple) were transferred to the lock-up of the Santacruz police station where they were detained for the rest of the night until they were produced before the court,” the couple's lawyer Advocate Rizwan Merchant said.
He said the complaint of Navneet being subjected to ill-treatment is not concerning the detention at the Khar police station but regarding the detention at the lock-up of the Santacruz police station.
In her letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Navneet had alleged that she was denied even drinking water and faced casteist slurs in police custody. "I was taken to the Khar Police Station on 23.04.2022 and I spent the night in the police station on 23.04.2022...I made several and repeated demands for drinking water throughout the night, however, no drinking water was provided to me throughout the night", she had said in the letter.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has already sought a report from the Maharashtra government over Navneet's allegations.
On Tuesday, the Union Home Ministry also sought a report from the state government over the allegations made by the MP. The move came after the Lok Sabha Privilege and Ethics Committee asked the Home Ministry to seek a report from the state government.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil denied Navneet's accusation and said no such incident has taken place in the police station. "I personally sought information about the accusations of Lok Sabha member Navneet Rana that she was ill-treated by police officials because she belongs to a lower caste," Walse-Patil told reporters. "I did not find any evidence backing her allegations. It is a fact that no such incident has taken place in the police station," the minister added.
With PTI inputs
