Raut again cries 'relief scam', this time over court's observation on sedition charge against Ranas

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday dubbed as "relief scam" the observations made by a special court here while granting bail to MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana, in which it said there was no sufficient ground for invoking the charge of sedition against the couple.

Attacking the BJP, the Sena MP said looking at the Centre, it feels the British rule was better.

"The relief scam which is going on in the country, there are many aspects (to it). Crimes and charges get proven only against us, but why don't the same charges against others get proven? This is a matter of research," Raut said in response to a question on the court order.

Special court judge R N Rokade, while granting bail to the lawmaker couple on Wednesday, held that prima facie at this stage the charge under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 124(A) (sedition) was not made out against the couple.

The politician couple has "undoubtedly crossed the line of freedom of speech" guaranteed under the Constitution, but mere expression of derogatory or objectionable words may not be a sufficient ground for invoking the charge of sedition against them, the court has said in its order.

The Ranas were arrested on April 23 by the Khar police here under sections 124 (A) and 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code.

The couple had announced that they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' here, which angered workers of the Shiv Sena, Thackeray's party, leading to tension. The couple later dropped the plan. They walked out of jails on Thursday, a day after being granted bail.

Last month also, Raut had termed as "relief scam" the Bombay High Court's order granting interim protection from arrest to Maharashtra BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in a cheating case related to alleged misappropriation of funds collected to save decommissioned warship INS Vikrant from getting scrapped.

Raut had then asked how only people from one party are beneficiaries of "relief" granted by the courts.

Following his comments, the Indian Bar Association had last month filed a contempt petition in the Bombay High Court, claiming that the respondents have levelled several "false, scandalous and contemptuous" allegations against the high court judges and the entire judicial system.