Gauhati High Court stays Barpera sessions court's observations in Jignesh Mevani's bail order

The HC, however, made it clear that the stay order on the observations should not be interpreted as a stay on grant of bail to Mevani

Gauhati High Court on Monday issued a stay on at least two observations made by a sessions court in Assam's Barpeta district while granting bail to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani on Friday.

The high court stayed the observations in which the sessions court termed the second FIR lodged against Mevani as false and that Assam police should take reform measures to give credibility to its versions related to the recent incidents in which several alleged criminals have been killed or injured by police.

The high court issued the stay order on the observations on Monday after hearing a petition filed by Assam government objecting to the session court's observations.

The high court, however, made it clear that the stay order on the observations should not be interpreted as a stay on grant of bail to Mevani.

"These observations were made without there being any materials on record, on which the learned Judge could have made such observations and consequently, this Court stays the above quoted observations until further orders," said the High Court on Monday.

Read | The intriguing chain of events in Gujarat

Assam government submitted before the High Court that the remarks about the state police were issued while hearing Mevani's plea and was in no way related to the bail.

The High Court further said that lower court's finding that the case appeared to be manufactured to keep Mevani in custody for long was also beyond its jurisdiction in a bail matter.

Mevani was arrested and brought to Assam by Assam police on April 21 for alleged offensive posts against PM Narendra Modi. The case was registered after a BJP leader in Kokrajhar, Arup Kumar Dey lodged an FIR alleging that Mevani's tweet about the PM was likely to "incite a section of the masses belonging to a certain community."

On April 25, Mevani was granted bail in the case by a court in Kokrajhar. He was, however, re-arrested immediately in connection with the case registered in Barpeta by a lady police officer. The officer alleged that Mevani outraged her modesty while she was accompanying him from Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar on April 21.

The sessions court, while granting bail said the case was "manufactured" based on a "fake FIR" in order to keep Mevani in custody for long.

Watch latest videos by DH here: