A bailable warrant was issued against Patidar leader Hardik Patel for failing to be present in an Ahmedabad sessions court on Wednesday, while charges were to be filed against him for a 2015 sedition case. This case was filed against him back in October 2015, by the Ahmedabad crime branch.
Owing to him not being present, the matter was pushed to the next hearing on 25th April Judge D P Mahida, following the issuance of the bailable warrant.
In the sedition case, Hardik and his aides are accused of “inciting violence with the intention to dislodge the government” during the agitation to demand an OBC (Other Backward Castes) status for the Patidar community in August 2015. About 13 people are speculated to have died in this violence.
The FIR in question names six accused out of which Hardik Patel, Dinesh Bambhaniya and Chirag Patel were arrested in the past and got subsequent bail. One of the accused Ketan Patel has turned into a prosecution witness regarding this matter.
As per a charge sheet filed by the Ahmedabad police in this regard, the police claims that Hardik and his five other associates created the Patidar agitation and incited violence while being fully aware that the community could not be listed in the OBC category legally and socially.
This warrant against Hardik comes after a setback he received in February the Ahmedabad sessions court rejected a discharge petition filed by Hardik seeking relief from the sedition charges against him.
In total Hardik has two cases of sedition against him. One in Surat and the other in Ahmedabad. In the Surat case too, Hardik had suffered a setback when the Gujarat High Court had rejected his plea seeking to quash the Surat case.
As per local reports, the first arrest of Hardik came in October 2015 at Rajkot for insulting the national flag. After being released the next day, he was arrested by the Surat crime branch. He was then subsequently sent to a judicial custody for 14 days after which the Ahmedabad crime branch arrested him via a transfer warrant.
