Gujarat: Jignesh Mevani's supporters call off 'jail bharo' protest after his release

Supporters of Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Saturday said they were withdrawing their call for "jail bharo" (courting arrest) agitation as the independent MLA from Gujarat has been released from jail in Assam. The agitation had been announced to protest Mevani's arrest by Assam Police last week.

A court in the north-eastern state on Friday granted him bail in a case where he is accused of assaulting a woman police personnel.

"Since Mevani is released from jail and there is no other FIR against him, we have withdrawn our agitation," said his close aide Subodh Parmar. "We wanted to make the point that it is better for us to surrender ourselves to the police than letting them arrest us on false grounds," he added.


Earlier, a tweet from Mevani's handle had said the agitation will proceed till he was set free without any new First Information Report being registered against him. Mevani, MLA from Vadgam Assembly constituency in Gujarat, on Saturday completed pending bail formalities at the Kokrajhar court in Assam, and was set to return to his home state.