The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court on Monday that it will not arrest Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale in the 21 of the 22 FIRs registered against her for her one social media post against NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
A division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Nitin Borkar accepted the statement and kept the petitions hg Chitale for hearing on July 11.
The statement was made by Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai that they would not be arresting Chitale.
Chitale was arrested by Kalwa police on May 14 after she allegedly uploaded an objectionable social media post about NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The actor is facing 22 FIRs and 4 non-cognizable offences in Maharashtra because of her one social media post.
Chitale has filed two petitions before the HC. One petition has sought a stay on the investigation in these cases.
The other petition seeks that her arrest and detention by the Kalwa police on May 14 be declared “illegal” and in “breach of the law”.
Chitale has alleged that her arrest and the subsequent remand by the magistrate was illegal and in breach of Supreme Court judgment which said that the police should issue a notice to a person under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code instead of directly arresting.
In Chitale’s case, she was arrested on the same day as a complaint was registered by one Swapnil Netke. Her plea contends that she received a call from the Kalamboli police station in Thane asking her to come to the police station, which she complied. The officials of the Kalwa Police Station were present there and they took her into custody.
The actor’s plea contends that she did not understand the nitty-gritties of law and when she was asked to sign certain papers at the Kalamboli police station, on the pretext that it was a formality, she again complied.
Chitale has alleged in her plea that when she was “brought out from the Kalamboli Police station to get into a police vehicle of Kalwa Police, a mob led by a woman leader of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) attacked the police party, assaulted her and also outraged her modesty”.
