Daijiworld Media Network - Sindhudurg
Sindhudurg, Apr 28: A Maharashtra court has convicted BJP minister Nitesh Rane in connection with a 2019 incident involving the assault of a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) engineer, sentencing him to one month in jail.
The case relates to an incident on July 4, 2019, when Rane and his supporters allegedly poured muddy water on NHAI deputy engineer Prakash Shedekar during a protest over the poor condition of the Mumbai-Goa highway.
Rane, son of former Union minister Narayan Rane, was among 30 accused charged with offences including rioting, assault to deter a public servant, and criminal conspiracy. At the time of the incident, he was associated with the Congress.
However, the Sindhudurg court acquitted all the accused of these major charges, citing lack of sufficient evidence. Rane was, nevertheless, found guilty under IPC Section 504 for assaulting a public servant and intentionally insulting him to provoke a breach of public peace.
The court subsequently suspended the sentence, granting Rane time to file an appeal before a higher court. The remaining 29 accused were acquitted in the case.
Additional sessions judge V S Deshmukh, while delivering the verdict, observed that although Rane intended to raise concerns about poor road conditions and public inconvenience, his actions were unjustified.
“Even though the intention was to highlight public issues, humiliating or insulting a public servant in public is not acceptable,” the court stated.
The judge further noted that such incidents could undermine the dignity of public servants and hinder them from performing their duties effectively. Describing the act as an “abuse of power,” the court stressed the need to curb such tendencies.
According to the prosecution, Rane had summoned the NHAI Sub-Divisional Engineer to a bridge over the Gad river in Kankavali to inspect ongoing work on the Mumbai-Goa highway. During the confrontation, the engineer was allegedly forced to walk through slush after being doused with muddy water.
The court, after examining the evidence, observed that the victim held a senior position in the NHAI and was subjected to public humiliation.
“Forcing the engineer to walk through muddy water in public amounted to intentional insult and provocation,” the court remarked in its ruling.