Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, nine others booked for 2017 ‘Azadi’ march

A Gujarat court on Thursday sentenced MLA Jignesh Mevani and nine others to three months in jail in a 2017 case for taking out an Azadi march.

Among those who were convicted for taking out the rally (taken out with necessary permission) from Mehsana to Banaskantha in July 2017 to mark one year of the Una Dalit flogging incident included Subhodh Parmar and Reshma Patel. The court further slapped a fine of ₹10,000 on each of those convicted in the case.

Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar was also one of the accused in the case but he was not present during the time of framing of charges. Hence, the court had ordered for a separate trial against him.

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Mevani, a convener of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, who had offered support to Congress last year, was released on bail from Assam last week, days after being jailed for a purported tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Nearly two weeks ago, the MLA was picked up by the Assam police from Palanpur in Gujarat over the tweet. Soon after being released on bail in the tweet case a few days later, he was rearrested for allegedly assaulting a policewoman who was part of the police party that accompanied him to Kokrajhar in Assam.

He was then granted bail in the second case and on Saturday  he completed pending bail formalities at a court in Kokrajhar. Mevani was granted permission by the court to leave the Assam town as one of his bail conditions was to stay within the limits of the court’s jurisdiction.