In a major setback to the Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel, the Gujarat High Court has refused to stay his conviction in a rioting case from 2015. Hardik had joined Congress earlier this month on March 12 saying that now he could work for the six crore people of Gujarat in a better way.
Patel was hoping to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on the Congress ticket. However, now that the stay on the conviction has been denied, he can’t contest the election as per the Representation of People Act and a related Supreme Court ruling.
The Gujarat government on Wednesday vehemently opposed Hardik’s petition in which he sought to get a stay on his conviction in the said case. As per reports, public prosecutor Mitesh Amin argued before Justice A G Uraizee that Hardik was facing as many as 17 cases which reflected “badly’ on his conduct.
Amin also said that Hardik had accepted that he was present at the site of the riot at Visnagar in Mehsana district.
On the other hand, Hardik’s lawyer IH Syed said if the conviction wasn’t stayed, it will cause “irreparable damage” to his client as he intended to contest Lok Sabha election. He also added, “Nobody had seen Hardik Patel committing the alleged crime and the trial court didn’t examine any independent witnesses.”
The sessions court at Visnagar had sentenced Hardik to two years’ imprisonment for rioting and arsin in Visnagara town during 2015 Patidar agitation. The high court granted him bail and suspended his sentence in August 2018, but his conviction wasn’t stayed.
Patel tweeted on the occasion saying he “welcomed” the HC’s decision.
