Jignesh Mevani expected to move fresh bail application tomorrow

|HT|

Gujarat lawmaker Jignesh Mevani is expected to move a fresh bail application on Thursday after a court in Assam’s Barpeta on Tuesday remanded him in five-day police custody in connection with a case registered against him for allegedly misbehaving with a policewoman. A court in Assam’s Kokrajhar on Tuesday granted Mevani bail in a separate case related to alleged offensive tweets targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was rearrested the same day in the case registered at Barpeta.

“The court of the chief judicial magistrate of Barpeta rejected our bail petition and remanded Mevani in five-day police custody. The police sought 10-day custody. We will be moving bail application before a higher forum maybe on Thursday,” Mevani’s lawyer, Angshuman Bora, said.

The fresh case was registered on April 21 under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 294 (singing, reciting, uttering obscene song, ballad, or words in or near the public place), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) and 354 (assault or criminal force on woman). Mevani accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of continuously targeting him. “This is a conspiracy,” Mevani, who offered support to Congress last year, told journalists outside the Barpeta court on Tuesday.

The fresh First Information Report (FIR) filed against Mevani accuses him of using “slang words” against the woman sub-inspector of Kokrajhar police station, who was present in the vehicle when the lawmaker was being brought from Guwahati to Kokrajhar.

“When I asked him to behave properly, he got agitated and used more slang words. He pointed a finger towards me and tried to frighten me and pushed me on my seat with force,” the FIR, sub-inspector said. “He thus assaulted me during the execution of my legal duty of being a public servant and outraged my modesty by touching me inappropriately while pushing.” Opposition Congress staged a protest outside the Barpeta court demanding Mevani’s release on Tuesday. Several leaders and party workers were detained.

Congress leader Jakir Hussain Sikdar called Mevani’s arrest a murder of democracy. “BJP is not interested in protecting democracy or freedom of speech of citizens. Mevani’s arrest is politically motivated and we will continue to protest till he is released.”

Mevani, 41, who represents Vadgam in the Gujarat assembly, was arrested from Palanpur in his home state last week and was brought to Guwahati. He was later taken to Kokrajhar, where BJP leader Arup Kumar Dey has filed a case against him for allegedly offensive tweets.

Mevani was sent in three-day police and one-day judicial remand before getting bail in the first case.

(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.)