Days after he secured bail from a court in Assam, activist-politician Jignesh Mevani on Monday alleged his arrest was a “pre-planned conspiracy”. Mevani, an independent MLA from Gujarat, had been arrested by Assam Police for making an allegedly defamatory tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While he secured bail from a court in Kokrajhar over the tweet case on April 20, he was immediately arrested by Barpeta police on charges of outraging the modesty of a woman police officer. He was granted bail in the second case on April 29.
Mevani addressed a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi on Monday. At the press conference, Mevani took jibes at Modi. He was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying “They (police) took me with them but did not give me the details of the case. I am a lawyer and a lawmaker. They did not tell me the sections used against me, and did not allow me to talk to my parents... I was not allowed to speak to my lawyer and there was a blatant disregard to protocol for an MLA. They did not even tell the Gujarat Vidhan [Sabha] speaker about it. It was when he was in Assam that he got to know about it. Later, they linked another case to a woman. This is the fearfulness of 56-inch. How can you file a false case linked to a woman about an MLA 2,500km away?”
Mevani alleged his arrest was linked to the impending assembly polls in Gujarat. He was quoted by The Indian Express as saying “Some Godse bhakts who are sitting in the PMO were behind my arrest.”
Mevani pointed to alleged failures of the BJP government in Gujarat. He was quoted by The Indian Express as saying “Neither was there any probe into the huge drug haul at Mundra port and nor were there investigations or arrests into the allegations of rape levelled against a Gujarat minister by a dalit woman. A call for genocide of a particular community was made from a Dharam Sansad but no action was taken,”
Mevani expressed fears he was under surveillance. He alleged it was possible the government had tampered with and planted “something” on his devices, such as mobile phones and laptops that were seized from him.
