Jignesh Mevani sent to 5-day police custody as Assam court rejects bail plea
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Independent Gujarat MLA and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani's bail plea was rejected by a court in Assam's Barpeta district. He is sent to five-day police custody right after he was re-arrested.
The police have booked him on various charges including outraging the modesty of a woman police officer. His lawyer Angshuman Bora said that they would decide on Wednesday whether the bail petition would be moved to a higher court.
Mevani was re-arrested by Assam police on Monday soon after the Kokrajhar court granted him bail in the case of sharing an objectionable tweet against PM Modi. The independent legislator had tweeted that the Prime Minister considers Godse a god. He was in jail for six days before getting bail.
The Barpeta police have booked him on the basis of a complaint filed by a woman police officer and the charges include IPC 294 (obscene acts or words in public), IPC 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), IPC 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and IPC 354 (Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty).
The complaint alleged that Mevani used slang words against her and pushed her on her seat with force when she was escorting him from the Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar. The incident took place on April 21. She added that Mevani touched her inappropriately while pushing. "I was assaulted during the execution of my legal duty of being a public servant."
Mevani told the media that the BJP and RSS are trying to tarnish his image systematically. "They did it to Rohit Vemula, they did it to Chandrasekhar Azad, now they are targeting me." Congress leader Debabrata Saikia alleged that the new case is part of a conspiracy and the Assam police is acting in a "partisan manner".
Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani is associated with Congress, and a Congress delegation tried to meet Governor Jagdish Mukhi regarding the case but he refused. MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted that the political misuse of the justice system has reached a new extreme. He alleged that the case filed by Barpeta police is fabricated.