Court sends Mevani to one day judicial custody; will hear bail on Monday
A local court here on Sunday sent Gujarat Independent legislator Jignesh Mevani, arrested from the western state by Assam Police on Wednesday for a purported Tweet against the prime minister, to one days judicial custody, a police official said.
Hearing in his case, including his bail petition, will be taken up on Monday, he added. Additional superintendent of police of Kokrajhar Surjit Singh Panesar told reporters here that the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) decided to remand him to one days judicial custody.
Mevanis three day police custody had ended on Sunday, after which he was produced before the court late in the evening and arguments in the case continued for over two hours till around 9.30 pm. Panesar also said Mevani will be produced again before the court on Monday morning and his hearing will continue, including on his bail petition. Mevani, seen with an Assamese gamocha (traditional towel) around his neck, was taken to the Kokrajhar jail from the residence of the CJM, where the hearing was held. Meanwhile, the Congress continued to stage protest here in support of Mevani. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhupen Borah and MLAs Diganta Barman and SK Rashid led a silent march from the party office here to Kokrajhar Police Station, where Mevani was kept during his police remand. Congress MLAs and leaders have been staging daily protests demanding Mevanis release. Other Opposition parties, including AIUDF and CPI (M), as well as the states lone Independent legislator had also called on Mevani during his police remand and pledged their support to him. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday had termed as undemocratic and unconstitutional Jignesh Mevanis arrest by Assam police.
Mevani, an Independent MLA supported by the Congress, was apprehended from Palanpur town in Gujarat on Wednesday night after a First Information Report (FIR) under various sections of the IPC and the IT Act was filed in Kokrajhar Police Station over his purported tweet against the prime minister.
According to the FIR, he had purportedly posted a tweet, claiming Prime Minister Narendra Modi “considered Godse as God”.
Mevani was flown to Guwahati from Gujarat on Thursday morning and then taken to Kokrajhar by road, where he was produced at the chief judicial magistrates court, which remanded him to three days police custody.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)