The Supreme Court on Friday granted one week relief to Congress leader Hardik Patel in relation to the 2015 Patidar agitation case.
On July 23, 2015, Hardik Patel had organized a mega rally in Ahmedabad under the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti demanding quota in government jobs for the Patidar community. The mob had turned violent in Visnagar and ransacked the public property including the office of BJP MLA Rishikesh Patel.
A bench headed by Justice UU Lalit issued a notice to the Gujarat Government and asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representative of the state police, to explain the steps it had taken after the registration of the FIR ie., how many accused have been arrested so far and got bail in the case lodged against Hardik and other during the agitation.
An FIR was lodged against eight people and a mob of 500 in the case.
“The case was lodged in 2015 and the investigation is still pending in the matter. You can’t sit on the case for past five years,” the bench said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had last month accused BJP of “repeatedly harassing” her party leader Hardik Patel.
The Gujarat High Court had on February 17 rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Patel after having considered the government’s objection on grounds of his criminal antecedents.
The next hearing will be on March 6.