Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani accused the Rajasthan government on Sunday of “illegally confining” him because he was in the state to speak about BR Ambedkar’s ideas. The police stopped Mevani for at least two hours outside the Jaipur airport and informed him of an order to restrict his movements, PTI reported.
Mevani claimed that authorities had issued an order to restrict his participation in any demonstration in Jaipur till April 30.
“Immediately after I landed at Jaipur airport, few cops made me sign a letter saying MLA Jignesh Mevani’s entry is restricted in entire Nagaur district of Rajasthan,” Mevani wrote on Twitter. “I was going there to talk about the Indian Constitution and Baba Saheb Ambedkar.”
He claimed the police later also stopped him from travelling in Jaipur and forced him to fly back to Ahmedabad.
The police denied that they had detained or arrested Mevani. Officers told PTI that they stopped him because prohibitory orders were in place in Jaipur after the violence on April 2.
“We provided him the Nagaur district administration’s order and [telling him about the] imposition of Section 144 [of the Criminal Procedure Code] in Jaipur, after which he is free to travel anywhere,” Deputy Commissioner of Police for (Jaipur East) Kunwar Rashtradeep said.
Mevani was stopped for two hours because he had asked for a written order, which police took time to produce because it was a Sunday, Rashtradeep told Scroll.in. Later, Mevani went to Nagaur with the organisers of the event he was scheduled to speak at, he said.
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