Saket Gokhale gets bail day after 2nd arrest; TMC says 'justice will prevail'

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: After Trinamool Congress (TMC) national spokesperson, Saket Gokhale—who was arrested for the second time by the Gujarat police on Thursday night—was released on bail by the Morbi district court on Friday late afternoon, the party confirmed the same on social media stating: "Satyameva Jayate!...justice will prevail."

Gokhale was arrested over a tweet regarding the Prime Minister and the Morbi bridge collapse, in which at least 136 people had died. Earlier, the RTI activist-turned-politician Gokhale had tweeted a news clipping, which claimed that as per a piece of information apparently obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse cost Rs 30 crore.

On the leader's release, TMC tweeted: "SATYAMEVA JAYATE! Our National Spokesperson @SaketGokhale has been granted bail by the Morbi District Court. More than 140 deaths in the Morbi Bridge collapse. Massive tragedy. Arrests? None. The witch-hunt is only for those who SPEAK THE TRUTH but JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL, always!"

Earlier, in the day TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) over Gokhale's arrest twice in the same week. Gokhale was arrested by the Gujarat police on Thursday. The Assembly election was held in Gujarat in early December and the results were out on Thursday. The law and order of the state was still in the hands of the ECI as the Model Code of Conduct had not been withdrawn then.

Banerjee tweeted:"Gujarat Police arrests @SaketGokhale twice in a span of three days, that too with the Model Code of Conduct still being in place! Election Commission remains completely surrendered, continuously acting as a subservient to @BJP4India. Democracy remains to be in shambles."

On December 8, soon after Chief Metropolitan Magistrate MV Chauhan granted bail to Gokhale after he was produced before the court following the completion of his police custody, he was re-arrested in another case registered by Morbi police. An FIR was registered against the TMC leader for allegedly 'promoting enmity between classes during the elections' by 'disseminating fake news' about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the accident site.

Meanwhile, Jawhar Sircar, TMC MP, raised the issue in Rajya Sabha on Friday. He demanded Gokhale's unconditional bail. TMC MPs had also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Election Commissioner to protest against the 'illegal arrest' of Gokhale. The MPs alleged that during the election campaign in Gujarat Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam, had fanned communalism and hatred towards religious minorities. But no action was taken by the ECI, they alleged. Earlier, a five-member delegation, comprising Shantanu Sen, Dola Sen, Khalilur Rahman, Sunil Mondal and Asit Mal, was also sent to Morbi to meet and provide legal assistance to the party spokesperson.