Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani and nine others have been acquitted in a 2017 case related to a rally they held in Mehsana town, by the Mehsana district and sessions court on Wednesday.
Among those acquitted is former NCP member and now AAP Gujarat spokesperson Reshma Patel.
The court termed the prosecution’s case “baseless” after a magistrate court had sentenced the ten accused to three months imprisonment and Rs 1,000 fine each for unlawful assembly in May 2022.
Two appeals were then filed at the district and sessions court, one filed by the state seeking enhancement of punishment and another appeal filed by the ten accused who were held guilty, challenging their conviction.
Additional District Judge C M Pawar pronounced the verdict endorsing the right to deliberate discuss and debate in a democracy.
The court of ADJ Pawar held that no harm was caused, no police were harmed and no Section 144 under CrPC was in force at the time of the said offence.
On July 12, 2017, Mevani and his associates led an ‘Azadi Kooch’ from Mehsana to Dhanera of neighbouring Banaskantha district without police permission to mark one year of the infamous public flogging of members of the Dalit community by cow protectors in Una district of Gujarat in 2016 that had led to a large-scale agitation in the state.
Patel had also joined them.
Mehsana police registered a case of unlawful assembly against them under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code since they were not given permission to hold the march.
One of Mevani’s associates, Kaushik Parmar, had sought permission for the rally under the banner of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, an organisation founded by Mevani, from the Mehsana executive magistrate.
While permission was initially granted, it was subsequently revoked by the authority. The rally was still carried out by the organisers.