FIR Against Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani, Seven Others for Obstructing Police in Gujarat

An FIR has been registered against Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani and seven others for allegedly obstructing a police inspector, creating a commotion inside a police station and attempting to incite tensions between communities during the campaign for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections, police said.

The case was registered on Sunday, the day polling was held for the civic body. No arrests had been made till the latest reports, according to the police. The alleged incident occurred on October 8 after Yunus Parmar, the Congress candidate from Ward No. 4, was summoned to Pethapur police station for questioning following a complaint that he and his associates had threatened a BJP campaigner.

According to a complaint filed by Police Inspector A M Desai, BJP campaigner Bhavesh Bhavsar was allegedly threatened by Parmar and his associates at Sanjari Park in Pethapur around 10 pm on October 8. They allegedly warned him against campaigning or entering the area and threatened him with dire consequences.

Desai alleged that while he was questioning Parmar, Mevani and the other accused entered the police station's writer's room, obstructed him from performing his official duties, used abusive language and forcibly prevented the recording of Parmar's statement.

The complaint further alleged that the accused later sat outside the police station with supporters and raised slogans referring to the Thakor community. Their actions were intended to provoke people against the police, disturb public peace and create tensions between communities, it claimed.

The FIR 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 communities. They were also accused of violating a notification issued by the Additional District Magistrate, Gandhinagar.

Mevani and the seven others have been booked for unlawful assembly, rioting, obstruction of a public servant, criminal intimidation and intentional insult intended to provoke a breach of peace under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act. The polling process for all 11 wards of the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation concluded on Sunday.