Nitesh Rane, the fisheries minister of Maharashtra and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been convicted by a Sindhudurg district court for an incident in 2019 where he publicly humiliated Prakash Shedekar, a sub-divisional engineer with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Rane was sentenced to one month in prison and fined ₹100,000 (approximately $1,200 USD), although the sentence has been suspended pending appeal. The conviction was based on Section 504 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which addresses intentional insult, while Rane and his co-accused were acquitted of more serious charges, including assault and unlawful assembly, due to insufficient evidence. The incident took place on July 4, 2019, when Rane, dissatisfied with highway conditions in his constituency, allegedly forced the engineer to walk through muddy water during an inspection. Rane's defense argued that the incident arose from public frustration with poor highway work. Following the ruling, Rane expressed his intent to appeal, stating “Satyamev Jayate” on social media.