Gujarat MLA arrested by Assam Police over PM tweet row

|HT|

Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, who was arrested by the Assam Police over purported tweets on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was granted bail on Monday. However, he was rearrested soon after in a separate case that was lodged in Barpeta district. Earlier, Mevani's lawyer Angshuman Bora said that the bail had been granted in connection with the case lodged in Kokrajhar. But a separate case was lodged in Barpeta district and he may be arrested again and taken to that district. On Sunday, a local court in Kokrajhar had sent Mevani to one-day judicial custody. On April 20, Mevani was arrested by the Assam Police in Palanpur circuit house in Gujarat and then taken to Ahmedabad. From there, he was taken to Guwahati.

The independent MLA for Vadgam was arrested following an FIR filed against him by an Assam BJP leader Arup Kumar Dey for his alleged offensive tweets targeting the prime minister. The charges include relevant sections of the IPC for criminal conspiracy, injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult religion of any class among others. On Saturday, the Assam Police claimed that the primary offence for which Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was arrested was hurting the "sentiments of a particular community" in his tweets.

The Congress and other opposition parties have slammed the BJP over Mevani's arrest. “In a supposedly free country, which the Modi government repeatedly says that we are committed to democratic values, we are part three of the Constitution, we have fundamental rights, you (Jignesh Mevani) are picked up in Gujarat for a tweet on the Prime Minister, by the Assam police without serving any documents..” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said on Sunday.

“The arrest of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani by the Assam Police for tweeting against the Prime Minister is an abuse of power. This dictatorial attitude of the central and BJP governments is like a blemish on democracy and is against the constitution," Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted.

(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.)