The Gauhati High Court on Monday stayed the adverse remarks made by a district judge against the Assam police while granting bail to independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani in an assault case on April 29.
Hearing an appeal filed by the Assam government, Justice Devashis Baruah clarified that the order should not be interpreted as a stay on the grant of bail by the district judge.
Mr. Mevani was arrested on April 20 for an allegedly offensive tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The case was based on a complaint lodged by a BJP leader in western Assam’s Kokrajhar district.
The Gujarat MLA was granted bail but was immediately arrested again on a complaint by a police woman that he had outraged her modesty while being escorted out of the Guwahati airport on April 21.
‘False case’
A. Chakravarty, the judge of the district and sessions court in western Assam’s Barpeta, had observed that the second case was false and said the Assam police should undergo reforms to give credibility to their versions related to the killing or shooting of several alleged criminals in its custody.
The High Court said the district judge’s observations were made without any material to back them up. “These observations were made without there being any materials on record, on which the learned judge could have made such observations and consequently, this court stays the above quoted observations until further orders,” the High Court said.
The High Court also said the Assam government “shall be at liberty to challenge” the Barpeta court’s order in an appropriate proceeding, if so advised.
The court has fixed May 27 as the next date of hearing of the case.
