Gujarat Independent Legislator Jignesh Mewani was first arrested on Thursday(21st April) from Gujarat's Palanpur by a team of Assam police over a tweet that the complainant who happens to be a BJP leader alleged could destroy the social fabric "in this part of the country".He was granted bail on Monday(25th April) and was re-arrested the same day on a different case. In this new case, Mr. Mewani is accused of "assaulting and outraging" the modesty of a woman police officer.
His first arrest, over a tweet where he described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "Godse worshiper," is an appalling instance of the misuse of the law to target a staunch critic of the Central government. The tweet, which was later withheld by the bird app, also contained an appeal calling for peace in some areas of Gujarat that witnessed communal riots.
For this harmless tweet, the Independent MLA from Banaskantha's Vadgam seat had been charged with criminal conspiracy, offense related to the place of worship, outraging religious feelings, and provocation that might lead to a breach of peace. Mr. Mewani merely used his constitutional right of freedom of speech to openly criticise the PM Modi. The tweet only harshly criticised the Prime Minister, and anyone on their right mind would know that there was nothing seditious in the tweet that could affect public tranquillity or cause communal divisions in society.
It's astounding to see how the offences charged against him include inflammatory speech, breach of peace, and outraging of religious feelings when the tweet in itself is bereft of any mention of religion or call to violence. The police to add to the already non-sensical offences charged against Mewani, have also invoked the provisions related to conspiracy and hacking of computers for good measure.
What makes this arrest even more striking is how the police in distant Kokrajhar, Assam, instantly jumped on to act on a complaint by a ruling party's member against a legislator in Gujarat by traveling all the way to take him into custody and jail him in Assam. This over-enthusiasm by the Assam police indicates that the police might have been put under immense pressure by the central government to arrest Mewani for his allegedly religiously offensive tweet. It should also be taken into account except for the fact that the remark was made online and is readily accessible on the Internet, there is nothing to confer jurisdiction on the Assam police.
Mr. Mevani's remarks don't warrant a offense under Section 295A of the IPC, which strictly applies to acts that outrage the religious feelings of a section. Apart from the tweet being bereft of any mention of religion, there's no hidden messgaing or communal overtones that can be viewed as remotely insulting towards any religious belief or practice. The way in which the police in Kokrajhar Assam readily accepted the complainant's claim that the tweet could destroy the social fabric "in this part of the country" without further speculations cast doubt on political meddling involved in this arrest.
It's notably strange how the police in Gujarat (Mewani's home state) weren't keen on pursuing the case there.The answer to how the police reached the conclusion that Mewani's allegedly offending remark had more potential to cause a public disturbance in the far-away state of Assam than in his home state of Gujarat remains a mystery. Mewani's arrest for the second time is indicative of how the police only act as mere puppets controlled by the ruling party to clamp down any form of dissent.
The provisions of sedition were misused to put Mewani behind bars. The fact that police was able to hold Mewani in a entirely distant state with such ease and without any major hiccups or trouble for an alleged offence that attracts short prison terms and do not warrant arrest is rather strange. Judicial officials should try to draw more parallels between the severity of offense committed and charges invoked without blindly accepting any prosecution claims in such cases without any objection.
The fact that he was denied bail for a fabricated "offense" that does't even warrant arrest and was re-arrested on another case the very same day he got bail, screams of the ramifications that one has to face for merely criticising the ruling dispensation. If there's anything that one can take away from his arrest is that dissent despite being an indispensable part of democracy rather, remains unfortunately not welcomed in the world's largest democracy.
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