NEW DELHI: An Assam court on Monday granted bail to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani in a case over a purported tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mevani, an independent legislator supported by Congress, was arrested by Assam police last week for a purported tweet in which he claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi “considered Godse as God”.
Mevani’s three day police custody had ended on Sunday, after which he was produced before the court late in the evening and arguments in the case continued for over two hours till around 9.30 pm. The court then sent him to one-day judicial custody.
Mevani was apprehended from Palanpur town in Gujarat on Wednesday after a First Information Report (FIR) under various sections of the IPC and the IT Act was filed in Kokrajhar Police Station over his purported tweet.
Mevani was flown to Guwahati from Gujarat on Thursday morning and then taken to Kokrajhar by road, where he was produced at the chief judicial magistrate’s court, which remanded him to three days’ police custody.
The Congress stage protests in Assam in support of Mevani following his arrest.
On Sunday, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhupen Borah and MLAs Diganta Barman and SK Rashid led a silent march from the party office to the Kokrajhar Police Station, where Mevani was kept during his police remand.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had on Thursday termed Mevani’s arrest as “undemocratic” and “unconstitutional”.
(With inputs from PTI)
