A magisterial court in Gujarat’s Mehsana on Thursday convicted Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani and nine others in a case of holding a rally without the permission of the police. The court has convicted him in a case of illegal assembly from Mehsana city in July 2017. The court has sentenced all of them to three months’ imprisonment and a fine of one thousand rupees each.
Apart from Mevani, the accused convicted include NCP leader Reshma Patel. The court of Additional Chief Justice JA Parmar, while delivering the verdict in the matter, said, “Rallying is not an offense but rallying without permission is an offense.” The court also said that disobedience will never be tolerated.
On July 12, 2017, the Vadgam MLA and his supporters led an ‘Azadi march’ to Dhanera in Banaskantha district to mark one year of the beating of some Dalits in Una. The case of thrashing of Dalits had gained a lot of momentum then. Kaushik Parmar, one of Mevani’s aides, had sought permission from the executive magistrate of Mehsana to hold the rally under the banner of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, which was initially granted.