The Gujarat government has been permitted to drop a sedition prosecution against BJP MLA Hardik Patel and four companions who spearheaded the 2015 Patidar quota movement by the Ahmedabad City Civil and Sessions Court.
In response to a motion filed by Special Public Prosecutor Sudhir Brahmbhatt under the Code of Criminal Procedure, Additional Sessions Judge Manish Purohit issued two orders in this regard on Saturday.
Hardik Patel, Dinesh Bambhaniya, Chirag Patel, Ketan Patel, and Alpesh Katheriya were charged in 2015 with conspiring to encourage members of the Patidar or Patel group to advocate for its inclusion in the OBC list, even though they knew it was not “legally and sociologically possible.”
The order allowing the state government’s application to withdraw the case reads, “[I]t appears that the offence is pertaining to deliberately and knowingly by words, spoken and written, attempted to undermine public order and lawful authority of the State. It is also pertinent to note in the peculiar facts of the present case that no accusation of damages under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, therefore, no damages had been caused to public property. In the backdrop of the facts, when the State Government has decided to withdraw from the prosecution against the accused persons, which has been communicated through a letter addressed by the District Magistrate dated February 18, 2025, to the Special Public Prosecutor…and therefore, this Court is of the humble view that the permission for withdrawal from prosecution is to be granted and accordingly, this Court is granting its consent and giving the permission to withdraw from the prosecution…”
Sections 124A (sedition), 121 (waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting the waging of war, against the Government of India), 121A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable by section 121), 153A (imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration), and 153B (promote enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.) were the charges brought against the accused.
The BJP government declared last month that it will remove nine Patidar quota agitation cases, including this one. Approximately 300 incidents were reported during the Patidar agitation in 2015.
Read Also: Raveena Tandon Slams Men For Filming Katrina Kaif During Snan At Maha Kumbh
