Ahmedabad: Patidar quota agitator Hardip Patel has been granted bail in sedition case by Gujarat High Court today on condition that he will stay out of the state for 6 months. Hardik will have to surrender his passport and need to give undertaking for peaceful agitation.

Hardik will however not come of jail anytime soon, because he is facing other cases too in which bail has not been granted yet. There are cases against Hardik who led violent agitation in Visangar, Padadhari and other places.

Patel, who got conditional bail in two sedition cases today, will have to submit fresh undertaking in accordance with the conditions of his bail before the high court, his counsel Rafik Lokhandwala said.

‘Though we are yet to see the detailed copy of the order. What we know for sure now is the main conditions are that he would have to give fresh undertaking to the court in accordance with the bail order. He will also have to stay outside Gujarat, once he comes out of jail,’ Mr. Lokhandwala said.

Hardik had himself given undertaking before the court that he was ready to move outside Gujarat for six months if granted bail.

The Counsel said that despite getting bail in the two sedition cases, Hardik will have to wait to come out of jail as there was yet another matter in which he has not got bail.

‘There were three major cases against Hardik. In the two pertaining to sedition charges he has now got bail. His bail application in the third one related to the violence in Visnagar town of Mahesana district in July last year during which the office of Local MLA Rushikesh Patel was also attacked, was pending before the high court. The court of Justice P P Bhatt is to hear his bail plea on July 11. If the court grants him bail in this one two he would be able to walk out of the jail where he is lodged since his arrest in October last year,’ Mr Lokhandwala said.

The court of justice A J Desai had reserved its verdict on the bail pleas of Hardik in the sedition case on June 13 after completion of the hearing.

Background of previous hearing:

In last hearing of sedition case, Hardik Patel had informed the Gujarat High Court that he was ready to leave Gujarat for six months if granted bail in the two sedition cases filed in Surat and Ahmedabad in connection with the incidents during the violent agitation.

During the final hearing on the bail plea of Hardik in the court of Justice A J Desai, government counsel Mitesh Amin had reiterated that if granted bail, Hardik would indulge in such activities which could create threat to the peace and law and order in the state.

Countering this Hardik’s advocate Zubin Bharda had said that if granted bail the PAAS leader was ready to go outside the state for a period of six months. He would also not indulge in any such activity which might create a situation of breach of peace. He had also reiterated the earlier stand of the Patidar leader that he would run his agitation in peaceful and democratic manner on getting bail, a written assurance submitted in the court on May 3 which was rejected outright the very next day (May 4) by the state government.

Sedition cases

Hardik is facing two cases of sedition. One was lodged in Amroli police station of Surat district in October last year for his alleged on camera suggestion to Vipul Desai ( a co-accused in the case) to kill policeman rather than committing suicide. He was arrested in the case in October from Rajkot and has been lodged in the Lajpore central jail of Surat since then. Two of his co-accused in the case Chirag Desai and Vipul Desai has got bail.

Another case of sedition was lodged against Hardik and five others (including Chirag, Ketan and Dinesh Patel) by the crime branch of Ahmedabad police for his alleged involvement and plotting of the state wide violence post a pro reservation rally on August 25 here. The three co-accused have got conditional bail from the high court after no objection from the state on their undertaking to not to participate in the agitation, however his bail pleas were rejected by lower courts in Surat and Ahmedabad. DeshGujarat

Press Trust of India report

Ahmedabad,: The Gujarat High Court today granted bail to Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel in two sedition cases with a rider that he will have to stay outside the state for the next six months.

However, Hardik cannot come out of jail for now as another case of mob violence at an MLA office is pending against him in Visnagar town of Mehsana district, in which his bail plea is scheduled to be heard on July 11.

Justice A J Desai granted bail to Hardik with strict conditions, one of them being that he will have to stay outside Gujarat for the next six months and directed his lawyer to give a fresh written undertaking on his client’s behalf that he would not indulge in any activities that would lead to law and order problem.

The judge also listed other conditions as well in the written order.

The 22-year-old Patel quota stir spearhead has been behind the bars since October 2015, in sedition cases that were filed against him in Ahmedabad and Surat.

During the earlier hearing of the case, Government Pleader Mitesh Amin had opposed Hardik’s plea saying that the state government is apprehensive that if he is let off on bail, he may repeat the offence and his presence outside the jail may create law and order problems in the state.

Hardik’s lawyer Zubin Bharda had told the court that his client is ready to stay out of the state for six months if the court grants bail in order to remove the apprehensions expressed by the state pleader.

During earlier hearings, the government had declined to accept Hardik’s offer of written undertaking for bail, in which he had stated that he would refrain from activities that may affect law and order situation but added he would “continue to agitate for grievances of the Patidar community in a peaceful and democratic manner.”

Hardik had approached the high court for bail in the sedition cases, after the lower courts in Surat and Ahmedabad (where there are separate sedition cases against Hardik) refused to grant bail.

Reacting to the HC order today, Hardik said he has faith in the judiciary and added that the future course of the agitation will be decided after he comes out of jail.

Talking to reporters outside the Lajpore jail in Surat, where he was being taken after the court hearing, Hardik said that “in a democracy, the judiciary is supreme. As far as the future agitation is concerned, we will decide on further strategy after coming out of jail.”

Patel community members in many parts of the state, including Hardik’s family members in Viramgam town in Ahmedabad district, welcomed the decision of the high court by bursting crackers and distributing sweets.

Hardik, who heads the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), and his three associates are facing charges under IPC sections 124(A) (sedition), 121 (A) (conspiracy to wage war against government) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) here.

They are accused of inciting violence to put pressure on the government to accept the demand of OBC reservation for Patels.

Hardik’s rally on reservation held in Ahmedabad on August 25 last year had sparked violence, in which, ten people, including one policeman, were killed and public property and vehicles worth crores of rupees were damaged across Gujarat.

Meanwhile, the BJP-led state government said Hardik got bail as it did not oppose his conditional bail in the court.

Congress, however, said that Hardik’s bail was a “setback” to the government which tried to “suppress the voice of the state’s youths.”

The high court had granted bail to Hardik’s core group members Chirag Patel, Ketan Patel and Dinesh Bambhania, a couple of months back after they submitted a written undertaking stating that they would not indulge in any activity that may cause law and order problem.

Government spokesperson Nitin Patel said Hardik and others got a conditional bail earlier as the government decided not to oppose them. PTI