Hardik Patel permitted to travel outside Gujarat, first vacation with wife

After nearly ten months, the Gujarat Congress' Working President Hardik Patel will be able to travel outside Gujarat as the high court on Friday temporarily modified the bail condition that bars him to leave state limits without the court's permission in connection with a sedition case registered in 2015.

The relief came after he filed an affidavit detailing his itinerary for a period between November 11 and December 2. Among the places, the Patidar leader has mentioned in the affidavit, is Rajasthan where he has planned his "first vacation with wife after marriage." He got married to his childhood friend Kinjal Parikh in January 2019.

Patel had moved the high court after his similar plea had been rejected by the trial court where he had sought relief on the ground that as a Congress leader he had to attend political events as "a star campaigner" in Bihar where Assembly elections are underway, besides going to Delhi to consult with his lawyer in separate cases filed there.

Justice Rajendra M Sareen granted relief to Hardik with several conditions that included refraining from "conducting or attaining" any rally, political activity, or any activity which would constitute an offence.

The order stated, "The applicant is permitted to travel outside the local limits of Gujarat state from 11.11.2020 to 13.11.2020 i.e. Delhi for political reasons, from 18.11.2020 to 23.11.2020 i.e. Rajasthan for a vacation with his wife, from 24.11.2020 to 28.11.2020 i.e. Delhi for conferences with Advocates at Supreme Court and from 29.11.2020 to 01.12.2020 for Haridwar or Devprayag, at Uttrakhand, as the case may be depending upon the advice of elders and traditions that follows – for last rites of the uncle, as per the schedule submitted by the learned Advocate for the applicant. The applicant shall return to Gujarat on or before 02.12.2020."

In January this year, Hardik Patel was arrested by the Detection of Crime Branch following an arrest warrant issued by a special court conducting trial against him in a sedition case registered in 2015 during the Patidar agitation for reservation movement. The warrant was issued for his repeated absence from the trial. While granting him bail, the trial court had put a condition that he should not leave the Gujarat border without the court's prior permission.