Court rejects Hardik Patel's plea to allow him travel outside Gujarat for 12 days

A sessions court on Friday rejected the application of Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel seeking suspension of his bail condition for 12 days for attending political meetings in Delhi and briefing his lawyers in the Supreme Court where his petition was pending.

Patel is barred from leaving Gujarat without the court's prior permission, a condition imposed by the court earlier this year while granting him bail after his arrest for remaining absent from the trial of the 2015 sedition case despite repeated summons.

Additional sessions judge B J Ganatra refused to entertain Patel's plea while observing that, "At a time when a serious disease like coronavirus has spread across India, such political or social meetings can be held online as well. In such circumstances, the request of suspending the bail condition for 12 days doesn't sound reasonable."

The sessions court had imposed this condition earlier this year while granting him bail after his arrest for remaining absent from the trial in the 2015 sedition case. Earlier, after Hardik Patel was appointed as Working President of Congress party, he had moved the court to remove this condition which was rejected in June. This month, he again moved the court seeking 12 days suspension of his bail condition.

The state government had opposed the move saying that Hardik Patel had skipped several court proceedings in the past which forced the court to issue warrants against him. The public prosecutor argued that Hardik Patel was only trying to delay the trial of the sedition case by skipping the proceedings.