Chitale, in her latest plea filed through advocates Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Yogesh Deshpande, also said that even the police remand given by the magistrate court was in breach of Supreme Court guidelines.(Express Photo)Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale, who was arrested last month for a social media post against NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Thursday filed another petition in the Bombay High Court claiming her arrest by the Thane police was “illegal.”
Chitale has already approached the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of more than 20 FIRs against her. The high court is likely to hear the pleas on Friday.
Chitale, in her latest plea filed through advocates Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Yogesh Deshpande, also said that even the police remand given by the magistrate court was in breach of Supreme Court guidelines. She added that the police should have given her notice under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which mandates that the investigating officer would have to issue a notice of appearance before an arrest is made.
In the current plea, she claimed that the enthusiasm shown by the police in registering the FIRs proved that she was being targeted with an object of striking fear in minds of people and an “invisible hand” is targeting her. Chitale’s plea claimed that the FIR was an “abuse of process of law” and sought it to be quashed and set aside. The pleas sought from the court to direct her arrest as “illegal and violative of her fundamental rights.” Chitale has also sought that she be compensated for “unlawful” arrest.
Best of Express Premium
Chitale said that the day after the FIR was registered, she was called by officials of the Kalamboli Police station in Thane asking her to appear, which she had complied with. She said the officials of the Kalwa Police station, who were present there, took her into custody. She added that the Kalwa police never gave her the notice to come to the police station and came to the Kalamboli police station with the intention to arrest her even before they had interacted with her.
She further claimed that a mob of goons led by an NCP leader attacked, assaulted and outraged her modesty near the police station. “The gathering of a huge mob outside the police station and the inaction of the police to register offence against assaulters establishes that the Kalwa Police and Kalamboli Police were in collusion with the assaulters and the tip of the presence of petitioner was also provided by some insider in the police department.”
Chitale, 29, had posted a Marathi poem on her Facebook profile, attributed to another person, that mentioned only a surname and an age.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
