Another setback for Congress leader Hardik Patel as Gujarat High Court rejects his anticipatory bail plea

In yet another setback for Congress leader Hardik Patel, the Gujarat High Court Monday rejected his anticipatory bail plea in an unlawful assembly case registered during the protest in 2015 demanding a reservation for Patidar community in government sectors.

Justice V M Pancholi rejected the bail application of Hardik Patel mainly on the ground of criminal antecedents. The state government had objected to his application citing over 10 criminal cases lodged against the Patidar leader who has gone underground for nearly a month fearing arrest.

In 2015, Hardik Patel, as a convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), had started a massive protest against the state government demanding the reservation for his community in government jobs and education. As a part of the protest, PAAS had held a mega rally in Ahmedabad on August 25, 2015, where lakhs of people had gathered at GMDC ground. Police have alleged that the rally was unlawful since there was no permission granted to the organisers. Police alleged that this unlawful gathering led to violence at night due to provocation by Hardik and his other associates. This violence was spread across the state which resulted in killing over a dozen youths and damage of private and public properties.

The Vastrapur police had registered an FIR against Hardik for unlawful gathering. The police have been searching for Hardik to arrest him in this case.

Earlier, Hardik was booked in two separate sedition cases lodged in Ahmedabad and Surat.

The 26-year-old Congress leader stated in his anticipatory bail petition: "Applicant (Hardik) has been victimised by the ruling party of the state by slapping several false, frivolous and concocted cases against him. Due to political pressure, the police for the last few days have been visiting the house of the present applicant to arrest him."

During the 2017 assembly election, Hardik had joined Congress in the presence of party's ex-president Rahul Gandhi among other big leaders. Last month, he was arrested by Ahmedabad Crime Branch following an arrest warrant by a trial court which is hearing the sedition case. After his release, he was arrested in two other cases.

Last week, Hardik's wife Kinjal had tweeted, "My husband is missing for the past 20 days, we have no information regarding his whereabouts. We are deeply pained by his absence."