Click to play videoMumbai: A political game has begun over the New Year eve Mumbai molestation case after Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena came out in defence of the 14 men, who have been charged in connection with the case.
In fact, Raj Thackeray — the nephew of Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray — personally took all the 14 accused to Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil and claimed that they are innocent.
Earlier, Thackeray had a meeting with the accused for half-an-hour and demanded that the cases against the 14 be dropped unless there is concrete proof.
The new twist in the case came as a Mumbai court on Thursday directed the police to issue notices to all the 14 suspects on a revision application filed against the grant of bail to them.
The review plea, filed by the police, will come up for hearing in the court of Principal Sessions Judge Ashok Bhangale on February 4.
Prosecutor RR Kini told the court that the police should be given a chance for investigation as they had not been given custody of the suspects, who had been released from the jail on January 8.
Earlier, the Shiv Sena too had come out in support of the 14 youths. An editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna had blamed outsiders for the crime and projected the accused as those trying to save the two women.
Sena had accused ‘outsiders’ of tarnishing the reputation of the city by their molestation of two women in Mumbai and said it has taken upon itself the duty of protecting the women in the metropolis.
Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray also urged the police to ensure that ‘real culprits’ are caught and those who outrage the modesty of women will not be tolerated.
The Sena leader said though the police cannot be blamed for this incident such things were happening in Mumbai ‘because there is no such thing as a government in Maharashtra’. As a result, ‘outsiders’ have no fear, he added.
A Metropolitan Magistrate's court had granted bail to the suspects on January 3 hours after they were arrested in connection with the molestation of two NRI women outside a five-star hotel in Juhu.
The incident came to light after two photographers of a newspaper caught the incident in their cameras and later called the police. The suspects have denied their involvement in the incident.
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