GUWAHATI
Minutes after getting bail in a case related to an “offensive” tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, independent MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani was re-arrested by the Assam police for allegedly assaulting and outraging the modesty of a woman police officer.
The MLA’s lawyer, Angshuman Bora, said western Assam’s Barpeta police had registered a case against Mr. Mevani on Sunday based on an FIR that he had “misbehaved, used slang words, assaulted and inappropriately touched” the woman police officer in the escort party while he was being taken to Kokrajhar from the Guwahati airport on April 21 following his arrest the previous night from Gujarat’s Palanpur.
“Surprisingly, the woman officer was silent for the last five days. The police also did not mention this case while raising objection to his bail petition on Sunday. This cropped up today [on Monday] immediately after he was granted bail,” Mr. Bora told The Hindu.
The lawyer said the Barpeta police had registered the case under IPC Sections 294, 354 (non-bailable), 355 and 323. He will be produced in a court in Barpeta, about 85 km east of Kokrajhar, on Tuesday.
FIR by BJP leader
Mr. Mevani was arrested in the first case based on an FIR lodged by Arup Kumar Dey, a BJP executive member in Assam’s autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council. The FIR was lodged at the Kokrajhar police station.
In the FIR, Mr. Dey said Mr. Mevani tweeted about the Prime Minister worshipping and considering ‘Godse’ as God, while appealing to Mr. Modi. He alleged that the circulation of the tweet had the propensity to disturb public tranquillity, prejudicial to maintenance of harmony among a certain section of people in Gujarat.
