JOIN USPatel quota stir leader Hardik Patel was arrested by the Surat Police on Monday on charges of sedition after being given bail in another case.
The police had on Monday charged Hardik, the 22-year-old convenor of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti with Sedition under Section 124(A) of Indian Penal Code.
The case was filed against Hardik by Deputy Commissioner of Police Makrand Chauhan at Amroli Police Station of Surat.On Sunday, Hardik was arrested by the Rajkot Police minutes before the start of the one-day cricket match between India and South Africa under Section 68 of the Gujarat Police Code.
The police later released him as per Section 69 of the same code. But the Rajkot Police later booked him again for insulting the national flag under Section 2 of the National Flag Code and produced him before the district court on Monday. “Hardik had agreed that he had committed a blunder,” Gagandeep Gambhir, SP, Rajkot told media persons. Hardik was later given bail on the payment of a bond of Rs 10,000.
But Hardik landed in trouble again as the Surat Police arrested him for sedition and he was being shifted to Surat.
The case of sedition was filed against him for apparently advising a supporter named Vipul Desai to kill policemen instead of committing suicide, over a fortnight ago.
He told this to Vipul after had threatened to commit suicide in support of the quota stir. “If you have so much courage…then go and kill 2-3 policemen. Patels never commit suicide,” Hardik allegedly told Vipul at his house. Hardik was accompanied by a local television channel which later aired the conversation.
In a separate complaint, Adivasi Kisan Sangharsh Morcha national president Romel Sutaria accused Hardik of insulting the Tricolour after ge was caught by the Rajkot Police. Sutaria also presented a video clip to back his charge.