Gauhati HC drops Section 354 charge against Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has struck down the charge against Gujarat Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani under Section 354 of the IPC, ruling that continuing the case would amount to a misuse of legal process and a miscarriage of justice.
The court, however, upheld the charge under Section 352, which deals with assault or use of criminal force without grave provocation.
Section 352 carries a maximum penalty of three months’ imprisonment or a fine of Rs 500, or both. In contrast, Section 354—related to assault with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty—prescribes a punishment of up to five years in jail. Mevani has been facing two criminal cases filed in Assam in 2022.
The first case originated in Kokrajhar, where a local BJP leader filed a complaint over an alleged tweet from Mevani’s account about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Assam Police arrested Mevani from Gujarat on April 21, 2022, under IPC and Information Technology Act provisions.
The second case stemmed directly from his arrest. A woman police officer who escorted Mevani from Guwahati to Kokrajhar lodged a fresh FIR accusing him of misbehaving with her inside a police vehicle. Police arrested him again on April 26, 2022.
According to the FIR quoted in the High Court order, the officer alleged that Mevani used abusive language, pointed a finger at her, and pushed her on the seat. She claimed he intimidated her, assaulted her during her duty as a public servant, and “outraged her modesty” by touching her inappropriately during the push.
Mevani later secured bail, and investigators filed a chargesheet on July 7, 2022. On September 19, 2023, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Barpeta framed charges under Sections 352 and 354 while dropping Sections 294 and 353. Mevani challenged this order before the High Court through his lawyer, Shantanu Borthakur.
Justice Arun Dev Choudhury evaluated the officer’s statements recorded in the FIR, her deposition under Section 161 of the CrPC, and her more detailed statement under Section 164. The court noted a key inconsistency: while the FIR mentioned inappropriate touching, her later statements described only a feeling of being pushed inside a moving vehicle.
The judge pointed out that the incident occurred in the rear seat of a travelling police vehicle, where the officer, the accused, and another policeman sat close together, with Mevani in the middle. The court ruled that simply feeling pushed during vehicle movement—without any act indicating sexual intent—did not meet the legal threshold for Section 354.
The order stated that an allegation of being pushed, without any accompanying conduct showing sexual overtone or intent, cannot create a strong suspicion of an offence under Section 354. The judge held that the essential ingredients required for the charge were “conspicuously absent.”
As a result, the court partly allowed Mevani’s plea, removing the Section 354 charge while keeping the Section 352 charge intact. It emphasised that allowing the 354 proceedings to continue would constitute an abuse of the court’s process.
Mevani’s lawyer said the trial will now move ahead only under Section 352, unless the Vadgam MLA appeals the High Court’s decision before the Supreme Court.