MLA Gujarat Jignesh Mevani 2017 rally case verdict
A justice court had convicted the ten charged including Jignesh Mevani to three months imprisonment and a Rs 1,000 penalty each on unlawful assembly charges for having a rally without police approval.
On Wednesday, the Mehsana district and sessions court absolved Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani and nine people in a case related to a protest they had from Mehsana village in July 2017 without police authorisation.
Court declares Jignesh Mevani innocent:
The court termed the prosecution’s claim “baseless” after a judge court had convicted the ten charged to three months confinement and a Rs 1,000 penalty each for unlawful assembly.
Among those not found guilty is one-time NCP member and now AAP Gujarat representative Reshma Patel.
Additional District Judge C M Pawar enunciated the verdict supporting the right to planned discussion and debate in a democracy. Two pleas were filed at the district and sessions court after the magisterial court’s judgment condemning Mevani and nine people in May 2022.
The state filed one request to enhance punishment, and another was filed by the ten charged who were held guilty, questioning their conviction.
The court of ADJ Pawar had that no harm was caused, no cops were harmed, and no Section 144 under CrPC was in execution at the time of the violation.
On July 12, 2017, to celebrate one year of the notorious public flogging of several Dalits in Una that had led to a large-scale turmoil in the state, Mevani and his associates led an ‘Azadi Kooch’ from Mehsana to Dhanera of neighbouring Banaskantha area.
One of Mevani’s members, Kaushik Parmar, had sought permission to march under the banner of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, an organisation established by Mevani from the Mehsana executive justice. Initially, the approval was given, but the authority later cancelled it. The organisers still led the march.
