'Assam police arrested me on PMO's orders,' says Mevani; woman cop likely to move HC

A day after a local court in Assam granted bail to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani in a case related to an alleged assault on a woman police officer, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the officer has requested his permission to move the high court. Mevani was granted bail by Barpeta district court on Friday and was released from jail on Saturday morning.

"I don't know much about the case. There was a complaint of manhandling/misbehaviour on a lady police sub-inspector. On the basis of this complaint, the police registered a case. The Barpeta sessions court has given a verdict. She has now written to me asking for permission to move the Gauhati High Court against the verdict of the Barpeta Sessions court," the chief minister said.

"The file has come to me and if I grant permission then she will move the high court against the sessions courts verdict. Police have not filed a case. The case was registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by the lady police officer," he further said.

The Congress backed Independent MLA was first arrested from Palanpur in Gujarat in the wake of a complaint in Kokrajhar in Assam for a purported tweet against the prime minister. Shortly after getting bail in this case, Mevani was rearrested in Barpeta in the case of an alleged assault filed against him by the woman police officer. 

Granting bail to Mevani in the assault case, the district court had pulled up the Assam Police for filing a “false FIR” against the legislator.

Judge Aparesh  Chakraborty observed that the intent to outrage the modesty of the woman police officer in the presence of two other police officials cannot be held against the accused while he was in their custody and which nobody else had seen.

The judge also noted that the high court may consider directing the Assam Police to reform itself to "prevent registration of false FIR like the present case and the police personnel firing and killing or injuring accused which has become a routine phenomenon in the state".

Talking to reporters after coming out of jail, Mevani, a prominent dalit leader in Gujarat, hit out at the Assam government and the Bharatiya Janata Party and said the FIR filed against him was an insult to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution. He said it was shameful that false cases were filed against him in the land of Srimanta Sankardeva, a revered Vaishnavite saint.

Alleging that the BJP leadership was behind his arrest, he asked, "Why will the Assam police suddenly arrest me, register cases, ask for remand, vehemently oppose the bail application?"

“It was entirely a BJP conspiracy to harass me and to use a woman official for the purpose (which) reflects their cowardice and is against the culture of the state,” Mewani said, adding that the instructions to arrest him came from the prime minister's office.

Mevani said after returning to Gujarat he will tell people how he was harassed in false cases.

Meanwhile, the Congress demanded the resignation of the Assam chief minister after the Barpeta court came down heavily on the state police.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said if Sarma has a little public shame left, a little morality left, then he should quit immediately in the wake of the court pulling up the state police for lodging a "false FIR" against Mevani.