Fadnavis latches on to SC HC verdicts to target MVA govt

    Mumbai, Nov 27 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Devendra
Fadnavis said the verdicts given on Friday by the Supreme
Court as well as the Bombay High Court over the recent
developments in Maharashtra were a "tight slap" to the Maha
Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
    Although Fadnavis did not specify which verdicts he
was talking about, he was apparently referring to the Supreme
Court's decision to extend journalist Arnab Goswami's interim
bail and the Bombay High Court's observation that the action
of Mumbai civic body's demolishing part of actor Kangana
Ranaut's bungalow in Mumbai was illegal and smacks of malafide
intentions.
     In a series of tweets in Marathi, Fadnavis said, "The
verdicts of two courts in the country given on the same day in
a way sum up the performance of the government in the last one
year. But will they now call the SC and the HC as
Maharashtra-drohi (anti-Maharashtra)?"
    "The verdicts of the SC and the HC over some of the
incidents that occurred in Maharashtra in the recent past due
to the rulers blinded by power, were a tight slap to the
government. They should realise that every voice against the
government cannot be crushed like this," he added.
    "The state government forgot that we have a democracy
in the country. If the courts have to remind this government
that criminal procedure code is for the protection of the
people and not for their harassment, then it gives rise to a
question whether they are violating the oath they had taken at
the time of swearing-in," the former Maharashtra chief
minister said.
    When contacted over the courts' decisions, Shiv Sena
chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said, "I
have come to know about these decisions through media. I need
to study them thoroughly before commenting over it. I need
some time."
    The Supreme Court on Friday said the interim bail to
journalist Arnab Goswami and two others in an abetment to
suicide case will continue till the Bombay High Court disposes
of their plea, and stated that the judiciary should ensure
criminal law does not become a weapon for selective
harassment.
    The accused were arrested by Alibaug police in
Maharashtra's Raigad district on November 4 in connection with
the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his
mother in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by companies
of the accused. Goswami walked out of Taloja jail on November
11 after the SC granted interim bail to him.
    The Bombay High Court on Friday declared the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) action of
demolishing part ofRanaut's bungalow here as illegal and said
it smacks of malafide intentions.
    The court was presiding over a petition filed by
Ranaut, seeking that the partial demolition of her Pali Hill
bungalow carried out by the Shiv Sena-controlled BMC on
September 9 be declared illegal. PTI ND
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)