A court in Thane has rejected the bail plea of Marathi actress Ketaki Chitale. Chitale has been in jail for over a week now for sharing a social media post against Sharad Pawar.
As per reports, the Magistrate court stated that bail cannot be granted to the actress because the alleged ‘crime’ of sharing a social media post against NCP chief Sharad Pawar is of serious nature. Chitale’s legal counsel is expected to appeal to the session’s court next.
The Magistrate’s court has extended the judicial custody of Chitale for another 14 days.
Many on social media have expressed concern that the actress is still in jail even after a week over a mere social media post criticising a political leader.
The 29-year-old actress was arrested on May 15 for a Facebook post where she had shared a verse, allegedly written on Pawar, calling him a person who hates Brahmins. Soon after the post the actress got several cases registered against her under charges of defamation and promoting enmity between 2 groups. A case under the SC-ST Act has also been filed against her. The cases have been filed in multiple police stations in Mumbai and its suburbs. A 2020 case under the SC-ST Act has also been opened against her.
Maharashtra Housing Development Minister Jitendra Awhad had threatened that NCP workers and cadres will register cases in “at least 100-200” police stations across Maharashtra in connection with the said Facebook post. NCP workers had also thrown eggs and ink at Ketaki Chitale while she was coming out of the Kalamboli police station in Navi Mumbai on May 14.