Patels to carry the corpse of youth killed in police custody till Guv house

A group of Patels, including Hardik Patel and Patidaar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), have announced their intent to carry the corpse of Ketan Patel, the youth who is said to have died in police custody in Mehsana, to Gujarat governor’s house in Gandhinagar.

Patels have planned this 60-km long procession from Mehsana civil hospital to Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar for Sunday. According to PAAS, over 1000 cars and 2000 people on motorcycles would join the journey. Hardik, who has been barred entry into Mehsana district by the courts as part of his bail condition, is expected to join the procession on the Mehsana district border.

After reaching Raj Bhavan, Patels plan to leave the dead body of Ketan at the gates of Governor O P Kohli’s official residence and plead their case. The Patel leaders, who have been raising the demand for CBI enquiry and even got their heads tonsured in protest in the past.

Ketan had died on June 3-4, 2017, allegedly due to the beating he received in police custody. The state, on seeing the trouble, ordered an enquiry by chief district judicial magistrate and lodged and FIR against three persons, including a constable, including murder charges, the family later refused to take charge of the Ketan’s dead body. They insisted on a CBI enquiry and refused to perform the last rites of his body, which has been lying in the morgue of Mehsana Civil Hospital for almost a fortnight.

The custodial death of Ketan assumed larger proportion due to custodial death and involvement of Patel leaders in the process. Patels, who have been fighting for quotas as well as seeking action against policemen responsible for the killing of almost a dozen Patel youth during the agitation, see Ketan's death as an extension of high-handedness against their community. The refusal of state government to accede to the request for a CBI probe appears to have become a prestige issue for both the sides.

Though the police and state administration is yet to give permission for the procession, the Patels seem adamant on their plan. The police say that it fears law and order problem and hence has desisted from giving permission. The police on its part are not taking chances and are gearing up to deploy large posse of police personnel to prevent any untoward incident.