Hardik sent to police custody till Oct 23

Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel, who was produced before a fast-track court in Surat on Tuesday, was remanded to police custody till October 23.

Hardik was booked under Section 124 (A) of Indian Penal Code on Monday by Surat Deputy Commissioner of Police Makrand Chauhan in the Amroli police station.
Hardik was arrested on Sunday by Rajkot Police minutes before the cricket match between India and South Africa.

 He was arrested under Section 68 of the Gujarat Police Code which allows police to detain a person to prevent him or her from causing any trouble at a public event. He was released later.

 However, Rajkot Police later booked him again for insulting the national flag under Section 2 of National Flag Code, and on Monday produced him before the district court, which released him on bail and bond of Rs 10,000.

 After receiving bail in case related to insulting of flag, Hardik was arrested by Surat Police for sedition.

The case of sedition was filed against Hardik for apparently advising his supporter to kill policemen instead of committing suicide. Hardik had advised this to a youth Vipul Desai over a fortnight ago. Vipul had threatened to commit suicide in support of quota stir.

“If you have so much courage…then go and kill 2-3 policemen. Patels never commit suicide,” Hardik had allegedly told Vipul while visiting his house.

Hardik was  accompanied by a team of a local television channel which had later aired the conversation before being widely circulated on social media.

Separately, Hardik’s father Bharat Patel has moved a petition before the Gujarat High Court on his behalf to seek setting aside sedition charges filed against Hardik in Surat.

“The charges framed are incorrect as there is nothing in the complaint that points to my client instigating an armed revolt by uniformed men, nor is he stating anything that increases tension between two religious communities, the key issues on which anyone can be charged with sedition,” B M Mangukia told mediapersons.

The plea too states that no offence can be disclosed by spoken words of Hardik and no overt act can be attributed to him by those words.