Gujarat: Jignesh Mevani's supporters call off 'jail bharo' protest after his release

Jignesh Mevani. File Pic

Supporters of Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Saturday said they were withdrawing their call for "jail bharo" (courting arrest) agitation as the independent MLA from Gujarat has been released from jail in Assam.

The agitation had been announced to protest Mevani's arrest by Assam Police last week. A court in the north-eastern state on Friday granted him bail in a case where he is accused of assaulting a woman police personnel.

"Since Mevani is released from jail and there is no other FIR against him, we have withdrawn our agitation," said his close aide Subodh Parmar.

"We wanted to make the point that it is better for us to surrender ourselves to the police than letting them arrest us on false grounds," he added.

Earlier, a tweet from Mevani's handle had said the agitation will proceed till he was set free without any new First Information Report being registered against him.

Mevani, MLA from Vadgam Assembly constituency in Gujarat, on Saturday completed pending bail formalities at the Kokrajhar court in Assam, and was set to return to his home state.

Last week, Mevani was picked up by an Assam Police team from Palanpur in Gujarat over his purported tweet claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "considered Godse as God."

Soon after being released on bail in the case, he was rearrested for allegedly assaulting a policewoman who was part of the police party which accompanied him to Kokrajhar.

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