‘Will Become A Police State’: Assam Court Pulls Up Police For ‘False FIR’ Against Jignesh Mevani

Judge Aparesh Chakraborty observed that the intent to outrage the modesty of the woman police officer in presence of two other police officials cannot be held against accused Jignesh Mevani.

New Delhi: Hearing Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani's bail plea in a case related to alleged "assault" of a woman police officer, an Assam court on Friday stressed for the state police to "reform itself", urging the Gauhati High Court to look into the matter. 

Jignesh Mevani was granted bail in the case and the court in Assam's Barpeta district pulled up the state police for lodging a "false FIR".

According to news agency PTI, Barpeta District and Sessions judge Aparesh Chakraborty noted that the high court may consider directing the Assam Police to reform itself to "prevent registration of false FIR like the present case and the police personnel firing and killing or injuring accused which has become a routine phenomenon in the state".

Jignesh Mevani was arrested in this case on Monday, soon after a court in Kokrajhar granted him bail in a case that was filed against him for tweeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi "considered Godse as God".

The alleged incident took place when the female Police officer was escorting Mevani from Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar along with Additional Superintendent of Police Surjeet Singh Panesar and another official in a government vehicle on April 21. 

Judge Aparesh Chakraborty observed that the intent to outrage the modesty of the woman police officer in presence of two other police officials cannot be held against the accused while he was in their custody and nobody else had seen the incident.

The high court might also consider directing each and every police personnel engaged in law and order duty to wear "body camera, to install CCTV cameras in vehicles while arresting an accused or taking an accused to some place for recoveries of goods or other reasons and also install CCTV cameras inside all police stations", the order stated.

"Otherwise our state will become a police state which the society can ill-afford," it added, as quoted by PTI.

Jignesh Mevani Alleges 'Conspiracy' By Prime Minister's Office

Jignesh Mevani, a Congress-backed Independent MLA from Vadgam in Gujarat Banaskantha, said that a conspiracy was hatched against him and he has full faith in the judiciary.

Speaking to reporters on his way out of the court, he alleged his arrest was a "conspiracy" planned by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

"I have full faith in the judiciary. I had it in the past and it will remain so in the future. I would have definitely got bail, if not today, then tomorrow," he said.

"The BJP government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not arrest Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi or Vijay Mallya but for a tweet, Jignesh Mevani is arrested and brought thousands of kilometres from Gujarat to a jail in Assam. What is the message he is trying to give?" he added.

Talking about the case, he further stated, "What will I achieve by engaging in a scuffle with a junior officer? The police took me into custody and it was their job to interrogate me and I cooperated with them."

Jignesh was granted bail on a Personal Recognisance (PR) bond of Rs 1,000 in the case filed at the Barpeta Road police station.

'Curb The Ongoing Police Excesses In The State'

46 people have been killed and 112 others injured in police firings in the state since May last year. As per PTI, in all the cases, police stated that they had to open fire because the arrested persons either tried to flee from custody or shoot at them.

Judge Chakraborty also directed that the order be submitted to the Registrar General of the high court for placing it before the chief justice to look into this aspect and consider whether the matter can be taken up as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to "curb the ongoing police excesses in the state".