Gujarat Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, who was arrested by the Assam police from the western state for a purported tweet, was on Thursday remanded to three days police custody by a court in Kokrajhar in the north eastern state.
Mevani, who is an Independent MLA supported by the Congress, was produced before the chief judicial magistrate's court in Kokrajhar after arrival from Ahmadabad via Guwahati on Thursday evening.
'The police sought 14 days custody, to which we objected. After hearing both sides, the court gave three days police remand and said that during this period, he cannot be taken anywhere outside Kokrajhar,' Manoj Bhagawati, the advocate appearing for Mewani, said.
Bhagawati, who was deputed by the Assam Congress party to legally assist Mewani, added that a bail petition moved on Mevani's behalf was rejected by the court.
The Dalit leader was apprehended from Palanpur town in Gujarat on Wednesday night after a First Information Report under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act was filed at the Kokrajhar police station. He was flown to Guwahati from Gujarat on Thursday morning and then taken to Kokrajhar by road.
Flaying the arrest, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi termed it as "undemocratic" and "unconstitutional".
Gandhi said it was an insult to the people who elected Mevani as a public representative.
According to the FIR that led to Mevani's arrest, he had purportedly posted a tweet, claiming Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi 'considered Godse as God'. Nathuram Godse had murdered Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on January 30, 1948.
Mevani, who has pledged his support to the Congress, reportedly used the same tweet to urge Modi to appeal for communal harmony during the prime minister's visit to Gujarat this week, the FIR at the Kokrajhar police station, which was accessed by PTI, said.
"The Assam police took custody of Mevani from the Palanpur circuit house late on Wednesday night and took him with them to Assam after informing the local police," an official of the Banaskantha police station in Gujarat said.
Mevani had won as an Independent MLA from the Vadgam (scheduled caste) seat in Banaskantha district in the 2017 assembly election with Congress support. He had earlier said he would fight the next assembly election as a Congress candidate.
He was arrested after an FIR under Section 153A of the IPC, which deals with offences related to promoting enmity between communities, was registered at the Kokrajhar police station in Assam, said Mevani's aide Suresh Jat.
"As per a document shared by officials of the Assam police, an FIR has been lodged over a tweet by Mevani few days back. However, the tweet has been withheld by Twitter," Jat added.
Apart from Section 153A of the IPC, Mevani has been booked under Section 295A (malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), Section 504 (provocation with an intention to break public peace) and under relevant sections of the IT Act.
After learning about Mevani's arrest, Gujarat Congress President Jagdish Thakor and other Congress leaders rushed to Ahmedabad airport at 4 am to express solidarity with Mevani.
To protest Mevani's arrest, Congress leaders and workers, including Thakor, Leader of the Opposition Sukhram Rathva and former Gujarat Congress chief Siddharth Patel staged a protest at Sarangpur circle and raised anti-BJP slogans.
In Guwahati, surprisingly, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday claimed that he was not aware of Jignesh Mevani's identity, hours after the MLA was arrested and brought to the north eastern state from Gujarat.
The Assam Congress unit, however, smelt a conspiracy behind the arrest and rushed legal experts to assist the Gujarat MLA.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Bhupen Borah, criticising the police action, said it smacked of conspiracy.
"Mevani has always been vocal against the BJP and the RSS," Borah said shortly after the arrest.
