November 20, 2018:

On Wednesday, sessions court in Ahmedabad  framed charges against Patidar OBC quota stir leader Hardik Patel in a sedition case dating back to 2015.

Two of his colleagues, Dinesh Bambhaniya & Chirag Patel, were also named in the case.

The court framed the charges under Sections 124(A) (sedition) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), while reading out an 18-page chargesheet filed by the Ahmedabad crime branch.

The trio have also been accused of inciting violence to pressurise the government to accept their demand for reservation for the Patel community.

All three pleaded not guilty and are now out on bail.

Hardik said coming out of the court,“Charges of sedition, war against government, instigating people have been framed against me... as if I am out with weapons to wage war against the BJP... but I have faith in the judiciary. I will fight and will go to higher court if need be."

He alleged that he had no faith in the Ahmedabad crime branch, whose chargesheet is the basis of the charges framed today.

Hardik questioned, “Its(Crime branch) head JK Bhatt is facing corruption charges. Previously, Abhay Chudasama and DG Vanzara also faced cases. So how can one have trust in this crime branch."

He also said, “The Crime branch said I led an agitation though reservation for Patidars is not possible. Why is it not possible... the crime branch should not mislead the people.”

Hardik was referring to a Rs 2 crore bribe charge levelled against Bhatt by an absconding ponzi scheme accused and the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case that Chudasama and Vanzara were involved in.

Ahead of the court framing the charges against the trio, the Ahmedabad police arrested Bambhaniya on the basis of non-bailable warrants issued against him by the court after he repeatedly failed to appear in court.

Hardik appeared for the hearing himself after his lawyer’s application seeking exemption for him was rejected by the court.

“The court maintained that defence can ask Hardik to come. Following which Hardik produced himself in the court,” said public prosecutor Sudhir Bhrambhatt.

Bhrambhatt had earlier demanded that non-bailable warrants be issued against Hardik as well. Hardik arrived in court within 30 minutes after the court asked Hardik’s lawyer if he could appear in court so that it could go ahead with framing the charges.

This is one of the two sedition cases that the 24-year-old leader has been facing. In this case, he has been accused of instigating the youths to vandalise public property following his arrest and subsequent release after the August 25, 2015, rally. Violent protests continued for the next two days, leaving 13 youths dead and causing damage worth Rs 44 crore to public property across the state.

The second sedition case against him has been registered in Surat. He had been jailed for 9 months in October 2015 and was later exiled from the state for another 6 months by the court.

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