Gandhinagar, Oct 12 (IANS) An FIR has been registered against Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani and seven others for allegedly obstructing a police inspector, creating a commotion inside Pethapur police station and attempting to incite tensions between communities during campaigning for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections, Gujarat Police said on Monday.
The case was registered on Sunday night, the day polling was held for the civic elections. No arrests had been made in the case as of now, according to the Police Station Officer (PSO) of Pethapur police station.
According to the FIR, the incident took place on October 8, when Yunus Parmar, the Congress candidate from Ward 4, was called to the police station for questioning following a complaint that he and his associates had threatened a campaigner for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The complaint, filed by Police Inspector A.M. Desai, who is posted at Pethapur police station, stated that BJP campaigner Bhavesh Bhavsar was allegedly threatened by Parmar and his associates at Sanjari Park in Pethapur around 10 p.m. on October 8.
They allegedly warned Bhavsar against campaigning or entering the area and threatened him with serious consequences.
A written complaint was subsequently submitted to the Pethapur police station against Parmar and 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 writer’s room at the police station.
They allegedly obstructed the inspector from discharging his duties, used abusive language, created a commotion and forcibly prevented Parmar’s statement from being recorded.
The complaint further alleged that Mevani and the other accused later sat outside the police station with supporters and raised slogans referring to the Thakor community.
According to Desai, their actions were intended to provoke people against the police and defame the force, disturb public peace and create tensions between communities.
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 generating or promoting enmity between different communities.
It further stated that their actions violated a notification issued by the Additional District Magistrate, Gandhinagar.
Mevani and the seven others have been booked under Sections 189(2) and 191(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), relating to unlawful assembly and rioting, respectively, along with Sections 221, 351(2) and 352, concerning obstruction of a public servant in the discharge of public functions, criminal intimidation and intentional insult intended to provoke a breach of peace.
Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act has also been invoked. The case was registered as polling took place across 11 wards of the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation on Sunday.
–IANS
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