Independent Dalit MLA from Vadgam, Jignesh Mevani, was arrested by the Assam Police from Banaskantha district late Wednesday night following a complaint over two tweets ‘against PM Modi’. He was remanded to three-day police custody on Thursday. Although the police sought 14-day custody, the court of the chief judicial magistrate of Kokrajhar remanded Mevani for three days.

An FIR was filed against Mevani in Kokrajhar in Assam by one Arup Kumar Dey for two of his tweets that he had posted on April 17 ahead of Modi’s visit to Gujarat. In his complaint, Dey had written that Mevani has mentioned in his tweets “that the Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi worships and considers ‘Godse’ as God and appealed that the PM on his visit on April 20 to Gujarat should make an appeal to the public for the peace and harmony in areas such as Himmat Nagar, Khambhat and Beraval (sic.) in Gujarat (Sic.) where communal violence (Komi Hadse) had taken place.”

“The circulation of the tweet published in Twitter has caused widespread criticism and has the propensity to disturb public tranquillity, prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony among a certain section of people. It is more likely to incite a section of the masses belonging to a certain community to commit any offence against the other community and has the tendency to destroy the social fabric of different communities in this part of the country,” he added.

While Mevani has been taken to Kokrajhar in Assam, his lawyer Anand Yagnik told ET that the legal team of the Congress has already reached the police station where he is being kept. His bail plea was however rejected. Mevani will challenge the decision in a higher court.