New Delhi: Gujarat Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani was rearrested in a new case on Monday hours after he was granted bail by a local court in Assam's Kokrajhar in a case related to tweets against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PTI reported. Mevani was rearrested on charges of "assaulting and outraging" the modesty of a woman police officer four days ago.
Mevani was booked under IPC Sections related to voluntarily causing hurt, assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty and others, police said.
The alleged incident occurred when the woman police officer was escorting Mevani from Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar along with Additional Superintendent of Police Surjeet Singh Panesar and another police official on April 21, according to the FIR registered in Barpeta Road police station.
In her FIR, the woman police official alleged that the Gujarat MLA used abusive words inside the vehicle, PTI reported.
Mevani's lawyer Angshuman Bora told PTI that the allegations against Mevani were "atrocious" and there was no mention of the case when he was in police custody for three days or at the time his bail plea was being argued in the Kokrajhar court.
Earlier in the day, a Kokrajhar court granted him bail in connection with a case related to his tweets against Modi. Kokrajhar First Class Judicial Magistrate Bhavna Kakoty granted him bail on furnishing a bond of Rs 30,000 with two sureties.
The court also directed him not to directly or indirectly make any inducement, public threat or promise to any person related to the case. He was also asked not to leave the station without prior permission from the court.
Mevani alleged that this was a "conspiracy on the part of the BJP and the RSS to tarnish my image and systematically destroy me".
"They (BJP and RSS) did it with Rohit Vemula, Chandrasekhar Azad and now they are targeting me. They have serious problems with Dalits. We believe in the Indian Constitution. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was targeted by Savarkar and Modi is targeting Jignesh Mevani," he told reporters.
Mevani was detained by an Assam police squad from Palanpur, Gujarat, on Wednesday night over a handful of his tweets. After an Assam BJP leader, Arup Kumar Dey, lodged a complaint, an FIR was registered against him.
Mevani was charged under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A), 504 (intentional insult with the purpose to incite a breach of peace), and parts of the Information Technology Act.
A handful of Mevani's tweets are missing from his stream, with a notification stating that the tweets have been withheld in India due to a "legal demand."
Mevani is said to have asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to maintain communal unity during his recent visit to Gujarat in the contentious tweet. Mevani stated that he was detained as a result of political retribution.
The state Congress branch in Assam has condemned the Gujarat legislator's detention. In September 2019, Mevani, who was elected as an independent MLA, expressed his support for Congress.
(With inputs from agencies)