Congress Jignesh Mevani slams central govt over his arrest

|HT|

Congress leader Jignesh Mevani on Monday slammed the central government days after he was released on bail over two cases filed in Assam as he said "it was a pre-planned conspiracy to destroy me". "They took me with them but did not give me the details of the case. I am a lawyer and a lawmaker. They did not tell me the sections used against me, and did not allow me to talk to my parents," an angry Mevani said at a press conference. "I was not allowed to speak to my lawyer and there was a blatant disregard to protocol for an MLA. They did not even tell the Gujarat Vidhan Speaker about it. It was when he was in Assam that he got to know about it. Later, they linked another case to a woman. This is the fearfulness of 56-inch. How can you file a false case linked to a woman about an MLA 2,500 km away?” he said, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, referring to the ‘56-inch chest’ praise often used by the BJP to highlight his bold decisions.

Quoting the Assam court that gave him bail, Mevani further said on Monday: "instant FIR in the second case seems to be manufactured. This FIR is not maintainable. No person will ever try to outrage the modesty of a woman police officer in presence of other male officers. " The case was "manufactured" to keep him in custody for longer, he further added, citing the judiciary. Calling it "a conspiracy designed in the Prime Minister's office", he added, "Gujarat has elections coming and that's why it was done."

Last week, a local court granted bail to the Congress leader. He was arrested on April 20 for offensive tweets against the PM and then again on April 25 for allegedly assaulting a woman police officer.

The district court urged the Gauhati high court to direct the state police force to “reform itself”.

A day later, Assam Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the policewoman wrote to him to approach the high court.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)