Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani and 18 others were sentenced to six months in jail on Friday by an Ahmedabad court in connection with a case related to a protest at the Gujarat University in 2016, The Times of India reported.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate PN Goswami, however, suspended their sentence till October 17 to allow them to file appeals against the conviction.

Mevani and his associates of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, a Dalit rights group, had held the protest to demand that an under-construction building of the university’s law department be named after BR Ambedkar, according to The Indian Express.

They were arrested on charges of damaging public property and rioting, among others.