Gujarat to drop 9 Patidar stir cases; Hardik Patel welcomes move

Ahmedabad, Feb 7 (PTI) The Gujarat government has decided to withdraw nine cases filed in connection with the Patidar quota agitation of 2015, Minister of State For Home Harsh Sanghavi said on Friday.

BJP MLA Hardik Patel, the face of the quota agitation back then and booked in several cases, has claimed that these offences also include two sedition cases registered against him and other agitators.

Talking to reporters, Sanghavi said, "Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has decided to withdraw nine cases related to the Patidar quota agitation. Investigation into these cases have been completed, and chargesheets were also filed." Following the large-scale violence in Gujarat after the Patel community's mega rally in Ahmedabad on August 25, 2015, the city crime branch arrested Hardik Patel and three of his aides and booked them under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Surat police registered another sedition case against Hardik Patel for allegedly a youth of his community to kill police personnel instead of committing suicide, against the backdrop of the Patel quota agitation.

The BJP MLA, who was in the Congress before switching sides, thanked the state government for its decision to withdraw the cases.

"I thank the BJP government for withdrawing cases, including sedition, lodged against me and many other Patidar youths in the past. This decision will benefit nearly 30 to 35 youths," said Hardik Patel, who joined the saffron party ahead of the 2022 assembly polls and was elected from the Viramgam seat.

Dinesh Bambhania, a former member of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), claimed that after the withdrawal of these nine cases, nearly 50 cases will remain. PTI