Jignesh Mevani held in Guj over tweet on PM

THE VADGAM MLA, WHO ARRIVED IN GUWAHATI ON THURSDAY AND WAS TAKEN TO KOKRAJHAR BY ROAD, WAS PROBED FOR HOURS

Maulik Pathak and Utpal Parashar

AHMEDABAD/GUWAHATI: Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani was arrested by Assam Police in Palanpur town of Gujarat late on Wednesday and flown to Guwahati on Thursday over an alleged “offensive” tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said.

The Vadgam MLA, who arrived in Guwahati on Thursday afternoon and was subsequently taken to Kokrajhar by road, was probed for several hours. He was produced before the court of a chief judicial magistrate (CJM) who remanded him to three days police custody, officials said. The Congress leader was arrested on the basis of an FIR registered on a complaint by Bodoland Territorial Region executive member and BJP functionary Arup Dey on April 18, they added.

The FIR, a copy of which HT has seen, said the circulation of the tweet by the legislator “caused widespread criticism and caused the propensity to disturb public tranquility, prejudicial to maintain the harmony among a certain section of people”. The post, however, is no longer available on Mevani’s feed. “The police had sought 14 days custody of Mevani, but the CJM court granted only three days along with the condition that the MLA won’t be shifted

Jignesh Mevani anywhere outside Kokrajhar during the remand period. We will file an appeal in Gauhati high court for his bail,” Manoj Bhagawati, Mevani’s counsel and member of Congress’s legal cell, said. Both Assam Police and Dey did not respond to HT’s call and messages for a comment.

The Congress described Mevani’s arrest as “undemocratic” and “unconstitutional”.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, however, said: “I have never heard of that person’s ( Mevani) name and am not aware that he has been arrested.”