Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel was held guilty by a Gujarat court in the 2015 Visnagar rioting case. The Visnagar District and Sessions Court had sentenced two years imprisonment and fined ₹50,000 by a Visnagar court for vandalism during the 2015 Patidar protests. He is currently out on bail, but cannot run in the by-elections due to his charges. In 2019, he applied to contest the elections. But he did not contest the 2019 Indian general election because of his conviction of the rioting offense in 2015 which barred him from contesting.
The Supreme Court has issued a major order on the issue of Patidar leader Hardik Patel. The Supreme Court has stayed the conviction pending the verdict on the appeal of Congress leader Hardik Patel in connection with the riots and arson that took place during the Patidar reservation movement. Also, the sentence of Hardik Patel has been banned. At the time, the apex court said, the relevant high court also needed to stay the sentence. The big news of relief has come for Hardik Patel and Congress is that he can contest the election, the verdict is an interim relief.
While starting the hold on the sentence of Hardik Patel, the Supreme court also mentioned that the Gujarat High Court was supposed to take the verdict into its hands. The Supreme Court has stayed the Visnagar court’s verdict. In 2019, Hardik Patel applied to contest the elections. An application is pending in the entire Gujarat High Court. The judgment will come on that application in the coming days.
In this case, the court had sentenced Hardik Patel, Lalji Patel, and AK Patel to two years each. While 14 accused were acquitted. The riots took place on July 23, 2015, during the Patidar reservation movement.
