Ahmedabad court acquits Dalit leader Mevani, 6 others in 2016 case
A case was registered against Jignesh Mevani and six others on charges of unlawful assembly, rioting and causing damage to public property at Income Tax crossroads in Ahmedabad in 2016
A court in Ahmedabad on Tuesday acquitted Congress legislator and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, along with six others, in a 2016 case registered against them on charges of unlawful assembly, rioting and causing damage to public property at Income Tax crossroads in the city.
The court of additional metropolitan magistrate PN Goswami acquitted Mevani, Manabhai Pateliya, Ramesh Bariya, Mukesh Patel, Dashrath Pagi, Meesh Narsinh, and Darshan Pathadiya in the case.
The seven accused, including Mevani, faced allegations of vandalising a police vehicle, engaging in disorderly conduct by shouting slogans, and participating in riotous behaviour. These charges were related to their detention for orchestrating a protest at the Income Tax crossroads. The protest aimed to express solidarity with the sanitation workers of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and took place in September 2016, during which the accused were being transported to a stadium.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against them at Navrangpura police station under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 146 (rioting), 147, 294 (obscene act in a public place), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 341 (wrongful restatement), etc. of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and provisions of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Mevani and others were accused of causing harm to police vehicles and assaulting a police driver while being transported from the Income Tax crossroads to a police station. The charges were linked to their organisation of a protest without prior permission.