Mevani granted bail in Assam policewoman assault case, released
GUWAHATI: A local court Assam’s Barpeta district on Friday granted bail to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, who was first arrested on April 20 for alleged offensive tweets against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then again on April 25 for allegedly assaulting a policewoman, hours after he secured bail in the first case.
Barpeta district and sessions judge Aparesh Chakravarty criticised the police and urged the Gauhati high court to direct the state police force to “reform itself”.
“No sane person will ever try to outrage the modesty of a lady police officer in presence of two male police officers and there is nothing in the record to hold that the accused Shri Jignesh Mevani is an insane person,” Chakravarty, said in his bail order.
Senior advocate Angshuman Bora, who represented Mevani, informed that the legislator was released on a personal bond of ₹1,000. Completion of bail formalities is expected to take some time and Mevani is likely to get released from custody on Saturday.
Following the bail order, Mevani was released from police custody in Barpeta district on Friday evening, but since he was arrested
from Kokrajhar on Monday, he will have to complete his bail formalities in that district on Saturday, Mevani’s counsels informed. The MLA will be taken to Kokrajhar and will appear in court there and sign his bail bond to be able to leave jurisdiction of that district.
“I respect Indian judiciary and knew that I will get bail sooner or later. This was a concocted case and soon the entire truth will come out during trial. I will continue my fight for truth. They wanted to crush my spirit, but they failed,” Mevani told journalists after getting released from police custody in Barpeta.
The MLA from Vadgam was arrested on Monday, moments after getting bail from a court in Kokrajhar in a case of alleged offensive tweets against PM Modi, and sent to five days of police custody in Barpeta for allegedly assaulting a woman sub inspector. He was initially arrested in Palanpur for his alleged offensive tweets against the PM on April 20.