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Exiled Hardik Patel alleges he is under house arrest in Raj
AHMEDABAD/UDAIPUR: Hardik Patel, the Patidar agitation leader out on bail and residing in Udaipur on a six-month exile from Gujarat, has filed a complaint against
AHMEDABAD/UDAIPUR: Hardik Patel, the Patidar agitation leader out on bail and residing in Udaipur on a six-month exile from Gujarat, has filed a complaint against the Raj as than police for restricting his movements and putting him under a virtual house arrest.
In a letter to the police inspector, Pratap Nagar police station in Udaipur, and copied to top police officials of the district, Hardik has alleged that the local police station in charge and all his senior officers have “obstructed his movements, blocked his freedom, wrongfully restrained him and prevented him to move out freely out of his residence”.
According to Hardik’s legal team, the action of the Rajasthan police not only amounts to contempt of the Gujarat high court, but is also a cognizable offence.
The Gujarat high court had on July 8 granted bail to Hardik in two sedition cases, with the strict condition that he will stay out of Gujarat for the next six months.
He eventually walked out of prison on July 15, nine months after he was jailed for sedition.
Hardik was arrested last October after his agitation for reservation in jobs and education for the prosperous and politically powerful community of Patels, or Patidars, turned violent.
In his complaint, Hardik mentioned that local police officials have “wrongly and deliberately with a malafide intention misinterpreted the conditions imposed upon him in the Gujarat high court judgment”.
He further alleged in the letter that Udaipur SP Rajendra Prasad Goyal and additional SP Sudhir Joshi told him that the instruction to keep him under “house-arrest” had come from the home ministry of Rajasthan.
When contacted, Udaipur SP Goyal denied receiving any complaint from Hardik Patel.
The officer said the police was only following the high court’s order. “If he has any problem with the order, he is free to approach the court. We are bound to follow the court’s orders,” the SP added.
A posse of 20 policemen is posted round-the-clock at his residence, which is also under CCTV watch.
Whenever he attempts to move outside, the policemen force him to go back into the house. He is also required to mark his attendance at the local police station every Monday.
