A court in Assam's Barpeta on Thursday, 28 April, reserved its order on the bail plea of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani till Friday in connection with a case of alleged assault on a female police officer.
Mevani's lawyer Angshuman Bora said that the court had concluded its hearing of the case on Thursday, news agency PTI reported.
Bora also said that the prosecution urged the court to adjourn the case, but the court declined to do so and ordered it to submit its arguments on Thursday.
Details of the Case
Mevani was remanded to five days in police custody by an Assam court on 26 April for allegedly assaulting a female police officer who was travelling with him from Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar. The complainant had said that Mevani started using "slang words" against her. On being asked to behave properly, the complainant alleged that Mevani got agitated and "used more slang words".
She also claimed that he pointed a finger toward her and pushed her on to her seat with force, purportedly assaulting her during "the execution of my legal duty… and outraged my modesty by touching me inappropriately while pushing".
The Gujarat MLA had been arrested in connection with this case shortly after he was granted bail in a different case on Monday.
In the second case, Mevani was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 294 (Obscene acts and songs), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), and 354 (Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty).
He was first arrested by the Assam Police from Gujarat late on 20 April in a case pertaining to his tweets about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and had been granted bail on Monday, 25 April, in this regard.
(With inputs from PTI.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)