Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani remanded to five-day police custody in assault case

NEW DELHI: Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was on Tuesday remanded to five-day police custody by a court in Assam in connection with an assault case against him filed by a woman police officer, said news agency PTI.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Mukul Chetia remanded Mevani to police custody when he was produced in his court in the afternoon, according to PTI.

Mevani has been 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 on a woman intending to outrage her modesty).

The Assam Police had on Monday re-arrested Independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, soon after a court in Kokrajhar district granted bail to him, six days after he was arrested by Assam police in connection with an "objectionable" tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The police from the Barpeta district arrested Mevani on different charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman police officer.

A woman sub-inspector had filed a complaint with the Barpeta Road police station on April 21 against Mevani alleging "on April 21 while I was escorting the arrested accused person, Jignesh Mevani, from Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar along with other police officials, the arrested accused person uttered slang words towards me".

The Gujarat legislator was first arrested on Wednesday night in connection with an "objectionable" comment against the Prime Minister he made through a tweet on April 18.

Mevani was flown to Guwahati on Thursday morning from where he was taken to Kokrajhar by road. The Chief Judicial Magistrate`s court in Kokrajhar district on Thursday rejected the bail petition of the Dalit activist and sent him to three-day police custody.

On Sunday, after hearing his bail petition, the court reserved its order and sent him to one-day judicial custody and asked the police to produce Mevani again in the court on Monday. Before his re-arrest, Mevani said that it is a deep-rooted conspiracy by the BJP and RSS.

The Gujarat legislator was arrested last week from his home state following a complaint filed by an Assam BJP leader seeking action against him under the IT Act. Ever since the arrest of Mevani, who had earlier pledged outside support to the Congress, the party has been holding demonstrations in different parts of Assam, terming the arrest as a `conspiracy`. It also sent its legal team to Kokrajhar to look into the matter.

(With Agency Inputs)