Ahmedabad:

The Crime Branch here today detained Congress-supported Vadgam(SC) MLA Jignesh Mevani in Saraspur area today while he was going to protest against the government and campaign to ensure success of his bandh call over the death of the dalit activist who died after self immolation in Patan collector office premises.

A police official said that while the MLA was being arrested, he also misbehaved with a policeman on duty and refused to cooperate. He was arrested from the Saraspur railway over-bridge while he was going for demonstration near Ambedkar statue without proper permission.

Meanwhile the video of the incident has gone viral. In it Mevani, infamous for his uncontrolled utterances, can be heard uttering indecent language for the policeman on duty.

Unconfirmed sources said that the police was mooting to put forth a complaint in this connection in front of assembly speaker.

On the other hand demonstrations against the incident of death of the Dalit activist Bhanu Vankar continued today. A car and a motorcycle were burnt down by unknown protesters (who were also enraged at the arrest of Mevani) in Juna Vadaj area of the city today.

Police said that culprits would be nabbed on the basis of the CCTV footage.

Meanwhile over 50 people have been detained across the state today in connection with protests and road blockades in Mahesana, Patan, Rajkot Surendranagar and Morbi districts.

So @jigneshmevani80 just called a Gujarat policeman ‘lakhota’ (testicle). Where is Ravish Kumar, the resident jaat expert, when you need him?

— Nirwa Sharma (@nirwamehta) February 18, 2018

Some state transport bus trips were cancelled for few hours citing possibility of attack by protesters. Most trips were back on track by evening. A woman identified as Kaliben from Sami in North Gujarat suffered burn injury while attempting to block highway by burning tyres.

The strike call in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar given by Mevani, failed to evoke response. In the history of bandh calls this was perhaps one novel bandh call given on Sunday. As it was weekly public holiday today, the traffic was obviously dull and shops that remain closed on Sunday were closed. But businesses that function on Sunday continued to function as it is. The open to sky mart for poor called ‘Gujri Bazar’ was functioning normally like every Sunday with routine rush of people.

If you give bandh/strike call in city on Sunday, it's a joke in itself. Happy to see no impact of such mindless call! Was in Gujri Bazar – the open to sky weekly mall/super market of poor, a barometer. Absolutely routine rush pic.twitter.com/xOM6dXe9K6

— Japan K Pathak (@JapanPathak) February 18, 2018

DeshGujarat