In a hard-hitting verdict, a North Gujarat district and sessions court on Wednesday acquitted Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani and nine others accused in a 2017 protest rally and even quoted Abraham Lincoln famously saying, “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and under a just God, cannot long retain it.”
Magisterial court had sentenced accused to three months jail
The case relates to a May 2022 order of a magisterial court sentencing Mevani and others to three months imprisonment for taking out a protest rally in 2017. The administration had initially granted them the permission for the rally but subsequently withdrew it. However, the aggressive Dalit leader and his group went ahead with the procession.
Two others, including young leader Kanhaiya Kumar, also an accused, had been declared absconders in the case.
Protest rally was organised against Una flogging of Dalit youths
The rally was organised to protest against the July 2016 Una flogging case where five Dalit youngsters were brutally beaten up after being stripped, flogged and thrown outside a police station. The incident had drawn countrywide condemnation. Mevani, Kanhaiya Kumar, Dalit activist Subodh Parmar, Patidar activist and now AAP leader Reshma Patel and others took out the procession from Mehsana to Dhanera in neighbouring Banaskantha district.
There were two appeals in the sessions court. While the prosecution had moved the court to extend the jail sentence from three months to six months, Mevani and others had moved the court to cancel the sentence.
Rahul Sharma, a former IPS officer who had quit the services in a huff in 2015, appeared on behalf of the defendants. Sharma is a practicing Gujarat High Court lawyer.
Court dismisses prosecution case as "baseless:
Dismissing the prosecution case as “baseless”, an Additional District and Sessions Judge of Mehsana CM Pawar asserted, “This court is of the view that right of freedom enshrined in the Constitution is not only for academic purpose but in fact it is the founding stone of a democratic nation. In the democratic set up, deliberations, discussions, debates and bona fide dissent against policies of government and even bona fide criticism of the actions of government are essential for the existence of democracy in a nation.”
The judge went on to observe, among several other things, that, “It would be worth to note that nowadays misuse of power of statutory authority and misuse of process of law for suppressing voice of people and showing dominance of power is not unknown even in democratic set up. Therefore, this court reminds that it is the pious duty of ruler of every democratic nation to protect right of freedoms of citizens without any fear of criticism for survival of ethos of democracy in the nation because in democratic set up elected leaders are not meant to rule over the people but, in fact, they are meant to serve the people of nation. Moreover, this court is also of the view that if in democratic set up every dissent and peaceful protest is branded as an offence then the right of freedom has no place in democratic set up.”
Entire case of prosecution is baseless and without any substance or evidence: Court
Judge CM Pawar ordered, “Hence in view of aforesaid factual background of the case this court is of the view that the entire case of prosecution is baseless and without any substance or evidence. In the result, the accused are required to be acquitted from offence and thus the impugned judgment of conviction passed by learned trial court deserves to be set aside.”
