Gujarat: FIR against Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani, seven others over alleged police station ruckus

An FIR has been registered against Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani and seven others for allegedly obstructing a police inspector, creating a ruckus at Pethapur police station and attempting to fuel tensions between communities during campaigning for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections, according to the FIR.

The alleged incident took place on October 8, when Yunus Parmar, the Congress candidate from Ward No. 4, was called to the police station for questioning. This followed a complaint alleging that Parmar and his associates had threatened a BJP campaigner.

The police station officer (PSO) at Pethapur police station confirmed that the FIR against Mevani and the seven others was registered on Sunday night. He said no arrests had been made.

According to the complaint filed by Police Inspector A M Desai, who is posted at Pethapur police station, Bhavesh Bhavsar, a campaigner for a BJP candidate, was allegedly threatened by Parmar and his associates at Sanjari Park in Pethapur around 10 pm on October 8.

They allegedly warned Bhavsar not to campaign or enter the area and threatened him with serious consequences. A written complaint was subsequently submitted to the police against Parmar and his unidentified associates, the FIR stated.

Desai alleged that while he was questioning Parmar in connection with the complaint as part of his official duties, Mevani and the other accused formed an unlawful assembly and entered the police station's writer's room.

The accused allegedly obstructed Desai from performing his lawful duties, used abusive language, created a commotion and forcibly stopped him from recording Parmar's statement, according to the complaint.

The FIR further alleged that the accused sat outside the police station with other supporters and raised slogans referring to the Thakor community.

According to the complaint, their actions were intended to provoke people against the police and damage the force's reputation, potentially disturbing public peace and triggering tensions between communities.

It also alleged that the accused recorded the incident on a mobile phone and circulated the footage on social media with the intention of promoting enmity between different communities.

The complaint further claimed that their actions violated a notification issued by the Additional District Magistrate of Gandhinagar.

The case was registered on Sunday, the day polling was held for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation elections.

Mevani and the seven others have been booked under Sections 189(2), 191(2), 221, 351(2) and 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), dealing with unlawful assembly, rioting, obstruction of a public servant, criminal intimidation and intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace, respectively. They have also been booked under Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act.  (with inputs from PTI)