Sedition case: Court sends Hardik Patel in judicial custody

Surat: A local court on Friday remanded the Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel in judicial custody while rejecting further remand application of the police in connection with the case of sedition filed against him for allegedly advising a youth to kill policemen.

Additional city civil judge H A Pandya rejected the police's application seeking his further remand of three days. The court asked the police to produce Hardik before it after a fortnight, the stipulated time to produce an accused person before the court.

Hardik, the 22-year-old fiery leader of Patel community's agitation for reservations, had allegedly advised a local youth from the community to kill policemen rather than committing suicide earlier this month.

"If you have so much courage...then go and kill a couple of policemen. Patels never commit suicide," Hardik allegedly told Vipul Desai, who had announced that he would commit suicide in support of the agitation.

Following this, police filed a case under section 124(A) (charge of sedition) of the Indian Penal Code at Amroli police station here and he was arrested on October 19.

Public prosecutor Babita Budhani pressed for further police interrogation, while Yashvant Singhvada, Hardik's lawyer, said the police had already interrogated his client for three days, which was enough.