Thane: Interim relief from arrest for rapper Rajesh Mungase in ‘anti-govt’ rap case

The Kalyan sessions court on Wednesday granted interim protection from arrest to Marathi rapper Rajesh Mungase, who had allegedly defamed Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led government through his viral song ‘50 Khokhe Ekdam Okay’ on YouTube.

The Kalyan sessions Judge RG Waghmare, while granting the protection, also directed the Shivaji Nagar police station in Ambernath, where the FIR against Mungase is registered on April 4, to file a reply. The FIR was registered by Yuva Sena core committee member Snehal Kamble.

Shiv Sena functionary called song “objectionable and defamatory”

As per Kamble’s complaint, the words ‘pannas khokhe (50 crore)’ and ‘chor (thieves)’ have been used in the rap. The functionary called the song “objectionable and defamatory” to the Shiv Sena and BJP alliance government, and that Mungase had also shared the video on Twitter, which was later retweeted by the members of the opposition.

Mungase had moved the Kalyan court for anticipatory bail through his lawyer Shubham Kahite, who stated that the FIR is “an assault on the democratic rights of the petitioner” as guaranteed by the Constitution under Article 19 (1)(a) with respect to freedom of speech and expression.

Mungase has not targeted any person specifically: Lawyer

Kahite argued that in the video, Mungase has just raised his voice against the injustice meted out to the common people and hasn’t targeted any person specifically. Through his art, Mungase is raising pertinent social issues, the lawyer said, further submitting that the FIR had been filed with the sole intention of stifling the creativity of an artiste. Kahite further argued that as the video is already in public domain, the police need not arrest him to conduct custodial interrogation.

Recently, Mungase’s younger brother Somesh had approached NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad and said that his brother has been missing since April 6 and that the local police in Aurangabad refused to file a missing person complaint.