Sindhudurg (Maharashtra): A sessions court in Sindhudurg has convicted Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane for a 2019 incident in which he poured mud over a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) engineer.
The court sentenced Rane to one month of simple imprisonment, stressing that elected representatives must adhere to the rule of law.
Following the verdict, the court suspended the sentence to allow Rane the opportunity to challenge the conviction in a higher court. While Rane was found guilty, 29 other individuals co-accused in the case were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
'Abuse of power'
Presiding over the case, Additional Sessions Court Judge V S Deshmukh highlighted the gravity of the lawmaker's actions. In his judgment, the judge remarked, "Even though Rane's intention was to raise a voice against the poor quality of work and inconvenience faced by the people, he was not supposed to humiliate or insult a public servant in public."
The judge further noted that such behaviour constitutes an "abuse of power" and warned that "if such incidents continue to occur, public servants would not be able to discharge their duties with dignity". The court concluded that "it is the demand of time to curb such tendency".
Background of the 2019 incident
The case dates back to July 4, 2019, when Rane was an MLA with the Congress party. During an inspection of the Mumbai-Goa Highway widening project at Kankavli, Rane and his supporters confronted Sub-Divisional Engineer Prakash Shedekar over waterlogging and road conditions.
The prosecution successfully argued that Rane and his followers poured muddy water on the engineer and forced him to walk through slush in full public view.
The court observed, "Despite that, he was made to walk through the muddy water in public. It would have certainly humiliated and insulted him."
Legal verdict
Rane was charged under various sections, including rioting and criminal conspiracy. However, the court acquitted him of the more severe charges of assault to deter a public servant, citing insufficient evidence.
Ultimately, the court found Nitesh Rane guilty under Section 504 of the Indian Penal Code (intentional insult intended to provoke a breach of peace). The judge held that compelling the engineer to walk through mud "was nothing but an intentional insult to the informant", and a provocation likely to cause a breach of public peace.
PTI