Court reserves order on Jignesh Mevani bail plea, Congressmen court arrest

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A court in Assam's Barpeta district on Thursday reserved its order on Gujarat's Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani's bail plea in a case where he is accused of "assaulting" a policewoman while being brought by a police posse from Guwahati to Kokrajhar.

Mevani's advocate Angshuman Bora told PTI that the District and Sessions Court has reserved the order in his bail petition till Friday.

"We placed our arguments before the court. The prosecution side tried to take an adjournment. But the court declined it and asked them to submit their arguments today itself," he said.

The Congress, which supports Mevani politically, took out a protest march against the arrest of the Dalit leader, resulting in the detention of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief among others.

Jignesh Mevani had been picked up by a posse from Assam police last week from Gujarat and arrested in a case against him for a purported tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he had claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "considered Godse as God".

The independent MLA from Vadgam seat in Banaskantha, who has pledged his support to the Congress, had used the same tweet to also urge Modi to appeal for communal harmony during his visit to Gujarat, the FIR at Kokrajhar Police Station, which was accessed by PTI, said.

After being released on bail in the case on his tweet, the Dalit leader from Gujarat was rearrested after being charged with assaulting a policewoman who was part of the police posse which accompanied him to Korkrajhar.

Congress continued its demonstrations for Mevani's release, even as Prime Minister Modi toured different part of the northeastern state.

Party MPs, MLAs, former MPs and MLAs, members of the Youth Congress, NSUI, Seva Dal and officials from all cells and organs of the party participated in the protests in different parts, including in Barpeta and Guwahati.

APCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah led a silent march here and took out a procession through the streets of the town to the party office.

The protestors were, however, not allowed to proceed as they did not have the requisite permission and were detained by the police, Barpeta Superintendent of Police Amitava Sinha told PTI.

Sinha said, "They had not taken permission for any demonstration and had to be detained when they tried to carry out the protest."
He added that prohibitory orders under CrPC 144 are in place in the district.

Talking to reporters here, Borah questioned the complaint based on which Mevani was arrested by Barpeta Police.

"How is it possible to molest a woman official when other officers were present and that too inside a police vehicle?" he questioned.

Borah, taking a dig at the ruling party, also said "The state government is spending Rs 30 crore to welcome Modi while another honourable MLA from the same state is being held for allegedly assaulting a police official." Party legislators and senior members also staged a protest in Guwahati, claiming the arrest of Mevani to be an "unconstitutional" one.

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