[Facebook post against Sharad Pawar] Ketaki Chitale granted bail by Thane Court

Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale was granted bail by Thane sessions court on Wednesday in the case registered against her for posting derogatory comments on her Facebook account allegedly aimed at Rajya Sabha member and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar..Chitale was arrested on grounds that she made disparaging remarks on Pawar’s illness, appearance, voice and also called him corrupt.She has been in judicial custody since May 18.Her plea was heard by additional sessions judge HM Patwardhan and the crime branch had already filed a reply opposing her bail application.On Tuesday, an additional reply came to be filed stating that the police was no longer opposing Chitale’s bail plea.Accordingly the Court passed an order today granting bail. A detailed order is yet to be uploaded..On Tuesday, the judge was informed that Chitale had not been served with a pre-arrest notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, summoning her for interrogation.To this, the public prosecutor responded that a notice had indeed been served.Advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay for Chitale, pointed out that the notice had been served only minutes before Chitale was arrested.This did not bode well with the judge who pulled up the prosecution for not following procedure.He even orally suggested that action should be initiated against the investigating officer.However, the public prosecutor apologised on behalf of the police..Chitale had posted a Marathi poem on her Facebook profile attributed to another person.The poem mentioned the surname (Pawar), age (80) and physical ailments which the NCP leader is also suffering from.She was detained by the police on May 14 before she was declared arrested. She was produced before a holiday Magistrate court who remanded the actor to police custody till today.After she was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days today, Chitale moved the present bail plea.Advocates Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Yogesh Deshpande instructed by Yashas Legal appeared for Chitale.