Mumbai, Aug 25 The Maharashtra government on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that no coercive action will be taken against Union Minister Narayan Rane till September 17 in the FIR lodged by Nashik police in the 'slap slur' against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The submission came in a plea filed by Rane seeking to quash the Nashik FIR and all other cases that may be lodged in future, and interim protection from arrest, which came up for hearing before a division bench of Justice S.S. Shinde and Justice N.J. Jamdar.
Rane's lawyers Satish Maneshinde and Aniket Nikam sought protection in all other cases that may arise out of the Union Minister's statement of August 23.
Senior counsel Amit Desai, appearing for the state government, said that no coercive actions will be initiated against Rane in the Nashik FIR till the next hearing on September 17.
However, Desai said a blanket statement on protections could not be made as Rane's petition mentions only the Nashik FIR, after which the latter's team said they would amend the plea with all the details.
Rane was arrested on Tuesday afternoon in Ratnagiri for his utterances against CM Thackeray and was produced before the Mahad court in Raigad late last night.
Mahad Judicial Magistrate First Class S.S. Patil, while saying the arrest was justified, sent him to magisterial custodial remand till September 4, and later granted conditional bail to Rane.
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