Laxman Mane moves HC to quash rape charges

Mumbai: Noted Marathi author and Padma Shri awardee Laxman Mane, booked in half a dozen separate alleged rape cases, has moved the Bombay High Court urging quashing of the charges. Mane filed the petition yesterday and the matter would be heard next week, court sources said. After being on the run for a fortnight, Mane had on April 8 surrendered before Satara police in western Maharashtra after which he was arrested. Mane has rejected sexual assault charges levelled against him. The 63-year-old writer-cum social activist, a former member of Maharashtra Legislative Council, has pleaded in the petition that he had been falsely implicated. [caption id=“attachment_695810” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Padmashri winning writer Laxman Mane has denied all the rape charges against him. IBNLive.[/caption] Three more complaints were lodged later. Among the complainants are helpers, peons and cooks who were working in the school. Mane is the working president of the organisation which runs Shardabai Ashram Shala, a school for underprivileged students. The complainants accused Mane of sexually exploiting them between 2003 and 2010 by threatening to transfer them or by promising to make them permanent employees of the school. After the complaints came to light, Mane had filed an anticipatory bail application which was rejected last week by the Satara district court. PTI