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In a huge relief for Jignesh Mevani, a court in Barpeta has granted him bail in connection with the case involving assaulting a woman police officer in Assam. Sources have told SabrangIndia that he has been granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 1,000/-.
This was the second case filed against him. Mevani was arrested by the Barpeta police in this case shortly after receiving bail in the Twitter case. In this case, he has been booked under IPC sections 294 (obscene acts and songs), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging duty) and 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman).
Previously a lower court in Barpeta had denied him bail and remanded him to five days police custody for allegedly assaulting a woman police officer and preventing her from doing her duty. On Thursday, Mevani’s legal team moved a higher court and though the hearing was concluded on the same day, the court reserved its order. The court granted him bail today.
Mevani, an independent Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Vadgam in Gujarat, was first arrested by the Assam Police on April 20, 2022, from the Palanpur circuit house in Banaskantha district in Gujarat at around 11:30 P.M on the complaint of a BJP member from Kokrajhar about his allegedly offensive tweets. He was taken to Ahmedabad where he was kept overnight before being flown to Assam the following day.
Here, he was first denied bail by a Kokrajhar court and remanded to police custody for three days Then he was granted bail on April 25, shortly before being arrested again by the Barpeta Police.
The Congress party has been rallying strongly behind Mevani ever since he was arrested, offering legal assistance, checking in on him to ensure he was not tortured or ill treated in custody, and organising multiple protests and demonstartions across two states – Guajarat and Assam. This is because Mevani, who would not join the Congress party alongside fellow activist-turned-politician Kanhaiya Kumar in September 2021 due to a technicality, is all set to join the party formally at the end of his term as MLA. Assembly elections are due in Gujarat later this year.
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