INDIA

Gujarat: Dalit Groups to Hold Massive Demonstrations Demanding Mevani's Release on May 1

Dalits from more than 1,000 villages are expected to join the demonstrations on May 1- Gujarat Day.

Newsclick Report
29 Apr 2022

Image Courtesy: PTI

Protests against the arrest of Vadgam (Gujarat) MLA Jignesh Mevani have intensified, with dalit groups announcing a huge demonstration against Assam police's action on May 1, Gujarat Day.

Mevani was arrested by Assam police from Palanpur circuit house in Gujarat's Banasakantha district on April 20 and was flown to Assam the next day.

The arrest was made after a complaint by Arup Dey, an executive member of the Bodoland Territorial Council and Member of the Council Legislative Assembly (MCLA) in Bodoland Territorial Council. The complaint was regarding a tweet by Mevani on April 18 ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to his home state Gujarat.

Mevani had tweeted: "Godse ko apna aradhya manne wale pradhanmantri Narendra Modi 20 tarikh se Gujarat daure pe hai, unse appeal hai ki Gujarat me Himmatnagar, Khambat aur Veraval me jo kaumi hadse huye hai uske khilaf shanti aur aman ka appeal kare. Mahatma mandir ke nirmata se itni ummid to banti hai. (PM Modi, who idealises Godse, is set to commence his Gujarat tour on April 20. I appeal to him to appeal for peace and brotherhood in Himmatnagar, Khambat and Veraval, which recently witnessed communal tension. I hope this much can be expected of someone who built Mahatma Mandir)."

Mevani's arrest saw immediate reactions in Gujarat and Assam. On April 21, dalit women led by Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM) protested across Gujarat and held 'Rasta Roko' demonstrations in Ahmedabad, Kutch, Godhra, Bhavnagar and other districts. Yash Makwana, a member of RDAM, told NewsClick that the dalit community in Gujarat is disappointed over Mevani's brazen arrest, adding that "Mevani is more than an MLA for us; he is our fellow activist."

In Assam, Congress workers have been protesting since April 21. Assam police detained senior Congress leaders in the state following a protest demonstration in the Barpeta district on April 26.

Following the arrest, Mevani had received bail in the case from a chief judicial magistrate in the Kokrajhar district but was re-arrested moments later in another FIR filed in Assam's Barpeta district. The second arrest under Sections 294, 323, and 354 of the Indian Penal Code was made in a case involving an assault on a woman officer and obstructing a public servant from discharging their duty.

Dalit rights activist Martin Macwan said that "dalits from over 1,000 villages in Gujarat will switch off the lights in their homes and light a lamp in front of the Constitution" on May 1.

Macwan further said that while one can question Mevani's choice of words in his tweet, he only appealed for communal harmony, adding that "in all probability dalits from more than 1,000 villages will join the protest."

Dalit groups also wrote to Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel, seeking an apology for the action against Mevani. They also demanded that Mevani "be brought back to Gujarat with all due respect." On May 1, dalit groups in Gujarat will organise state-wide programmes, further intensifying their protest demanding Mevani's release and withdrawal of cases against all other dalits.

Finally, Dalit Leader Jignesh Mevani Gets Bail by Assam Court in Second Case

The Vadgam MLA from Gujarat had been arrested by the Assam Police for a tweet seen as critical of PM Modi. He was given bail and then rearrested.


PTI
29 Apr 2022


Barpeta (Assam): Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was granted bail by a court in Assam's Barpeta district on Friday in a case related to the alleged assault of a woman police officer.

Barpeta District and Sessions judge Paresh Chakraborty granted bail to Mevani on a Personal Recognisance (PR) bond of Rs 1,000 in the case filed at the Barpeta Road police station.

The court had heard Mevani's lawyer and the public prosecutor on Thursday on the bail application and reserved the order for Friday.

The dalit leader was arrested in this case on Monday soon after he was released on bail in another case in Kokrajhar district.

Mevani, an Independent MLA backed by the Congress, was first arrested on April 19 from Palanpur town in Gujarat, and was brought to Kokrajhar for tweeting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It is alleged that he assaulted the woman officer when she was accompanying him from Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar along with senior police officials.

In this case, he was booked under IPC Sections 294 (uttering obscene words in public), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assaulting a public servant in the execution of duty) and 354 (using criminal force to a woman intending to outrage her modesty).

The court had Tuesday sent him to five days in police custody.

Assam Congress MP Abdul Khaleque Wednesday had demanded the immediate release of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and a judicial inquiry into the case filed against him for alleged assault of a woman police officer in Barpeta for which he was rearrested after being granted bail in a case related to a tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said Mevani's arrest was a ''full fledged conspiracy" and expressed scepticism over the incident which had reportedly taken place when he was in police custody after being brought to Kokrajhar in Assam from Gujarat for his tweet.

''An independent judicial inquiry must be instituted into the fabricated case immediately as the police is not independent in Assam and is acting under political pressure. He should be released immediately," said Khaleque, who is an MP from Barpeta, where the alleged assault of the woman police officer took place.

He said Mevani had tweeted in Gujarat. "Then why was a case filed in Assam? It is obvious that the Assam chief minister wants to please the prime minister. It is shameful for a chief minister to behave in such a manner''.

Khaleque claimed that he had filed a case against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma but the police did not register it despite a local court's direction to do so.