Jignesh Mevani's Bail Plea Rejected by Assam Court, Sent to 3-Day Police Custody

Mevani's lawyers said after the court order that they would appeal to a higher court seeking his bail.

Jignesh Mevani.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Jignesh Mevani)

A local court in Assam's Kokrajhar district on Thursday, 21 April, rejected the bail petition of Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani and sent him to police custody for three days.

Mevani was arrested by the Assam Police from Gujarat late on Wednesday, 20 April, for two of his tweets on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nathuram Godse that went viral and allegedly "pose a threat to disturb tranquillity".

Twitter withheld the two tweets in question in response to a legal demand. Mevani, the convenor of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, was later flown to Assam.

Meanwhile, Mevani's lawyers told the media after the court order that they would appeal to a higher court seeking his bail.

Earlier on Thursday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he was not aware of Mevani's identity or arrest. The Assam police also refused to share the detailed reasons for his arrest.

As Mevani was being led to the courtroom on Thursday, he alleged that his arrest was "vendetta politics, and this is by the Prime Minister's Office".

Before his flight to Assam, Mevani told reporters, "I have made an appeal for peace at a time when attempts are being made to incite communal violence in the country," said Mevani.

"I was not allowed to inform my family members of the arrest. This is in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines where a person is entitled to know the charges he is facing in the FIR," he said.

Mevani's arrest was condemned by Congress leaders, with Rahul Gandhi tweeting, "Modi ji, you can try to crush dissent by abusing the state machinery. But you can never imprison the truth."

Several Congress leaders led by the President of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Jagdish Thakor also staged a protest against Mevani's arrest at the Ahmedabad airport at around 3:30 am on Thursday.

Background

The complaint against Mevani, filed by local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arup Kumar Dey at Kokrajhar Police Station, stated that the 41-year-old leader, in one of his tweets, had said, "PM Modi worships Godse" and "...that the PM on his Gujarat visit must make an appeal for harmony in light of the recent events of communal violence in the state".

Mevani, who had extended support to the Congress last year, was apprehended from the Palanpur Circuit House at around 11:30 pm. He was later flown to Assam and taken to Kokrajhar police station.

According to the complaint, the tweet "has caused widespread criticism and has the propensity to disturb tranquillity, prejudicial to maintenance of harmony among a certain section of people. It is more likely to incite a section of masses belonging to a certain community to commit an offence against other community".

"The tweet...is sure to promote enmity or hatred towards different communities," the complaint added.

Meanwhile, Kankan Das, Advocate and General Secretary of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, stated that a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Mevani for his tweets.

According to news agency ANI, the FIR against the leader has been filed under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and various sections of the IT Act.