Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court today granted bail to Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel in two sedition cases, with a rider that he will have to stay outside the state for the next six months.

However, Hardik cannot come out of jail for now, as another case of mob violence at an MLA office is pending against him in Visnagar town of Mehsana district.

Next hearing of the Visnagar case bail application in the high court is scheduled on July 11.

Justice A J Desai granted bail to Hardik with strict conditions, one of them being that he will have to stay outside Gujarat for the next six months.

The court also directed Hardik’s lawyer to give a fresh written undertaking on his behalf which should state that he would not indulge in any activities that would lead to law and order problem.

The judge, while pronouncing the judgement, said that he has listed other conditions in written order.

The 22-year-old Patel quota stir spearhead has been behind bars since October 2015, in sedition cases that were filed against him in Ahmedabad and Surat.

During the hearing of the case, Government pleader Mitesh Amin had opposed bail to Hardik saying that the state government is apprehensive that if he is let off on bail, Hardik may repeat the offence, and his presence outside the jail may create law and order situation problems in the state.

Hardik’s lawyer Zubin Bharda had told the court that his client is ready to stay out of the state for six months if the court grants bail, in order to remove the apprehensions expressed by the state pleader.

During earlier hearings, the government had declined to accept Hardik’s offer for written undertaking for bail, in which he had stated that he will refrain from activities that may affect law and order situation, but added he will “continue to agitate for grievances of the Patidar community in a peaceful and democratic manner.”

Hardik had approached the high court for bail in the sedition cases, after the lower courts in Surat and Ahmedabad (where there are separate sedition cases against Hardik) refused to grant bail.

The Patel leader and his three associates are facing charges under IPC sections 124(A) (sedition), 121 (A) (conspiracy to wage war against government) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) here.

They are accused of inciting violence to put pressure on the government to accept the demand of OBC reservation for Patels. Hardik’s mega rally on reservation held in Ahmedabad on August 25 last year had sparked violence, in which, ten people, including one policeman, were killed and public properties and vehicles worth crores of rupees were damaged across Gujarat.

(PTI)

New Delhi: India has “secured” the release of its national Regi Joseph who was abducted in March this year in Libya, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said today.

“Indian Embassy in Libya has secured the release of Regi Joseph – an Indian national from Kerala. He was abducted in March this year”.

“This has been possible with the efforts of Azar A H Khan our Ambassador in Libya,” Swaraj said in a series of tweets.

Joseph, who hails from Kozhikode in Kerala, was working as a computer engineer near the Libyan capital, Tripoli. He had been there for two years with his nurse wife and three children.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Supreme Court today admitted for final hearing the appeal of Maharashtra government challenging the acquittal of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run case, but refused to fast-track the proceedings.

“Leave granted. Petition is admitted for final hearing,” a bench of Justices J S Khehar and Arun Mishra said.

The apex court, however, did not allow the submission of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Maharashtra, that the appeal be fixed for final hearing after six weeks as the matter is nearly 15 years old.

“We cannot put on fast track the hearing just because X, Y, Z is involved. We have to deal with so many important matters,” the court said, adding that it may hear the appeal if the Chief Justice of India issues a direction.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing the super star, said he has instructions that the matter be “decided on merits”.

Meanwhile, the bench also agreed to hear a separate plea filed by senior advocate Pandit Parmanand Katara challenging Bombay High Court’s order on the ground that a revision petition, instead of an appeal, should have been filed there.

Katara further said that the plea before the apex court was not maintainable due to alleged non-observance of the legal procedure.

The court, however, refused urgent hearing on the plea and said it would consider the matter later. The bench got irked when the lawyer insisted for an urgent hearing of his plea ahead of the petition filed by Maharashtra government saying, “are you arguing for the Press or for yourself. If you want to argue for the Press, then we are not interested.”

Earlier, the apex court on February 19, had issued notice to the actor on appeal of the state government in the case saying that exoneration from the top court would “vindicate him once and for all”.

Subsequently, another petition was filed by one Firoz Shaikh on behalf of the family members of a person who was killed in the 2002 hit-and-run case.
The plea had sought setting aside of the high court judgement and a direction to the 50-year-old actor to pay compensation to the wife and son of deceased Shaikh Noorulla Shaifik.

Maharashtra had said that the Bombay High Court had erred on two points while acquitting the filmstar. “Firstly, the High Court had erred in its finding by holding that there was ‘erroneous application’ of Section 33 of Evidence Act (relevancy of certain evidence for proving, in subsequent proceeding, the truth of facts therein stated) by the trial court,” the Attorney General had said.

On second count, he had said the High Court had erred by holding that the prosecution witness Ravindra Patil, a constable who was guarding the actor and had first called the police, was not a “wholly reliable witness” and his version needed corroboration with accounts of other witnesses.

The Maharashtra government’s appeal contained 47 grounds to assail the high court’s verdict and sought restoration of the trial court’s decision by which the 50-year-old actor was convicted and sentenced to five-year-jail term.

Among other grounds, the petition said, “High Court has erred in brushing aside the alcohol examination certificate and the evidence of the assistant chemical analyzer just because there was some alleged delay in taking the blood samples and for sending it to the chemical analyzer.”

The high court, in its verdict passed on December 10 last year, had held that prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the actor was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident and was drunk.

The high court judgement had come on an appeal by the superstar, seven months after he was pronounced guilty by trial court of running over five people sleeping on a pavement outside a laundry in suburban Bandra with his Toyota Land Cruiser, killing one and causing injury to four others.

On May 6 last year, a sessions court had convicted Salman in the case.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Senior Congress MLA K B Koliwad was today unanimously elected as the 20th Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Koliwad, a five-time MLA from Ranebennur constituency, had filed his nomination yesterday. He had served as Minister in the past.

Koliwad succeeds Kagodu Thimmappa, who has been inducted into the Ministry as Revenue Minister by Chief Minister Siddaramaih in the recent cabinet rejig.

Siddaramaiah proposed the name of Koliwad while Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra seconded it following which he was elected as Speaker unopposed in a voice vote.

After Deputy Speaker Shivashankar Reddy formally announced Koliwad’s election, he was escorted by Siddaramaiah, Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar and JD(S) leader Y S V Datta to the Chair.

Earlier, as the House met for the day, BJP members entered the Well demanding a probe into the alleged site allocation scam involving Bengaluru Development Authority but later relented after the Deputy Speaker asked them to allow the business of election of Speaker.

Congratulating Koliwad, Siddaramaiah thanked Opposition for its support in electing the Speaker unopposed.

(Agencies)