The Congress on Thursday hit out at the ruling BJP over Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani being convicted by a magisterial court in case of holding a protest march without police permission, saying the "arrogant rulers" should know, "we will neither bow down nor get scared".
Slamming Mevani's conviction and the three-month imprisonment sentence, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked whether it has become a crime in Gujarat and India to raise issues of Dalits, fight for their rights and take out a march for justice for their land which has been illegally occupied.
"Is it a crime to demand that the land of Dalits that has been illegally occupied for decades by some people, be returned to them. It seems this has become a crime in (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji's Gujarat because this cannot be a crime in Bapu's (Mahatma Gandhi's) Gujarat, it cannot be a crime in Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's Gujarat because Gujarat is the land of justice and on that land of justice Jignesh Mewani is being sent to jail because he took out protest march as the land of Dalits was being occupied," Surjewala said.
"The arrogant rulers should know, we will neither bow down nor get scared. If it is a crime to become the voice of Dalits and demand justice for them, then all of us, along with Jignesh Mewani, will commit this crime repeatedly," he said.
A magisterial court in Mehsana town of Gujarat convicted Mevani and nine others in the five-year-old case of holding a protest march without police permission, and sentenced them to three months of imprisonment.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate J A Parmar held Dalit leader Mevani and nine others, including NCP leader Reshma Patel, guilty of being part of an unlawful assembly under section 143 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on each of the 10 convicts, who include members of Mevani's Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch.
After delivering the verdict, the court accepted Mevani's plea for a stay on the order and granted bail to all the convicts till they file an appeal in the higher court against this judgement.
The Independent legislator from Vadgam who has pledged his support to the Congress was picked up by the Assam Police from Gujarat on April 19 and taken to the northeastern state after a purported tweet that Modi "considered Godse as God".
After being released on bail in the case, the Dalit leader was rearrested on charges of assaulting a policewoman. A court in Barpeta granted him bail in the case and urged the Gauhati High Court to consider directing the Assam Police to reform itself to 'prevent registration of false FIR like the present case..."
