SurendranagarA court in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district has issued an arrest warrant against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Hardik Patel for not appearing in a 2017 case in which he has been accused of violating a government order. Patel had made a political speech in a village in the district ahead of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, in violation of a government order. In Dhrangadhra, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate DD Shah issued an arrest warrant against Patel for failing to appear in court.
Through its order dated February 2, the court directed the officer-in-charge of the Dhrangadhra taluka police station in Surendranagar district to arrest Patel and produce him before the court without fail. An official confirmed that the police station had received the order on February 11. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered at the Dhrangadhra taluka police station on January 12, 2018, after Patel and a co-accused Kaushik Patel were found violating the conditions of the permission granted to hold a meeting in Haripur village I went. District.
According to the FIR, the duo had sought permission to hold a meeting in the village on November 26, 2017, ahead of the assembly elections. While he was given permission, he allegedly violated the notification issued by the Additional District Magistrate in a speech delivered during the meeting. He was booked under sections 37(3) and 135 of the Gujarat (Bombay) Police Act, 1951, which deals with punishment for disobeying government orders. Notably, a Jamnagar court had last week acquitted Patel of making a political speech at a rally in Dhutarpar village in November 2017 in defiance of a government order.
At that time, Patel headed the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), a Patidar community organisation, which launched a state-wide agitation demanding reservation for youth under the OBC quota. The movement had turned violent. Patel had joined the Congress in 2019, which he quit ahead of the December 2022 Gujarat elections, and was later elected as an MLA on a BJP ticket from Ahmedabad’s Viramgam constituency. He has more than two dozen cases registered against him including two cases of sedition in Gujarat.