Mewani detained at Jaipur airport for few hours, asked not to address rally

The police said Mevani was restricted from moving around in Jaipur because of the prohibitory order in effect in the district after the violence during the 'Bharat bandh' on March 2

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani was on Sunday stopped at Jaipur International Airport, police said.

The administration of Nagaur, where Mevani had a rally, had restricted his visit and the police stopped the Gujarat MLA at the airport to inform him about the order, they said.

After Mevani was stopped at the airport, he took to Twitter to say that he only wanted to talk about the Indian Constitution.

"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. I was going there to talk about Indian constitution and Baba Saheb Ambedkar," he tweeted.

In another tweet, he said, "Now the police is saying you are not allowed to move around even in Jaipur and they are forcing me to fly back to Ahmedabad and also not allowing to hold even a press conference...this is shocking."

The police said Mevani was restricted from moving around in Jaipur because of the prohibitory order under section 144 of the CrPC which was in effect in the district after the violence during the 'Bharat bandh' on March 2.

"We are providing him Nagaur district administration's order and (telling him about the) imposition of section 144 in Jaipur after which he is free to travel anywhere," DCP Jaipur East Kunwar Rashtradeep said.

"He was neither detained nor arrested by the police," said Rashtradeep.