The Kalyan Session Court has recently granted interim relief from arrest to Rajesh Mungase, the Marathi rapper who allegedly defamed the CM Eknath Shinde-Maharashtra government through his video song.
While giving the protection, Kalyan Sessions Judge RG Waghmare also directed the Shivaji Nagar police station, where the FIR against Mungase is registered, to file a response.
Snehal Kamble, a Yuvasena Core Committee Member, filed the FIR against Mungase for a song he recently uploaded on YouTube that contains the terms “pannas khoke” (50 crores) and “chor” (thieves).
According to Kamble’s complaint, the objectionable song is insulting to the ShivSena-BJP alliance government and is against the state government, and the accused had allegedly also shared the video on Twitter.
Mungase had applied for anticipatory bail in Kalyan court through his lawyer Shubham Kahite, who stated that the FIR was not only contrary to the provisions of law, but also an assault on the petitioner’s democratic rights as well as Mungase’s fundamental right as guaranteed by the Constitution under Article 19(1) (a).
Kahite contended that in the alleged video, Mungase was raising his voice against injustice meted out to the common people without particularly targeting anyone, and that it was an exercise in which the singer was raising relevant social issues.
Kahite also claimed that the FIR was filed solely to suppress the rap song that criticises the government.
Kahite further contended that because the alleged video was already in the public domain, the police did not need to arrest him in order to undertake custodial interrogation.
