GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 12th April. The Supreme Court stayed the conviction of Hardik Patel until the appeals are decided, in a rioting and arson case during the Patidar quota stir.
A bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Vikram Nath also stated that the High Court should have stayed the conviction and said, “the conviction is, hereby, stayed until the appeals are decided accordingly.”
The SC was hearing Patel’s appeal seeking suspension of his conviction in the case in which he was found guilty of rioting and arson during the Patidar quota stir in 2015.
Hardik Patel had moved the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Gujarat HC which had suspended his jail sentence but not the conviction.
Patel has challenged the judgment of the Gujarat High Court seeking suspension of the conviction so that he could contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier, the Supreme Court said no to an urgent hearing on conviction in a rioting case.
Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Hardik said that he had earlier lost one chance to contest the poll in 2019. Hardik, in his petition, had stated that the SC should urgently hear his petition because the last date and filing of the nomination papers for Lok Sabha polls 2019, was April 04. However, the SC had earlier refused to give him an urgent hearing at that time.
As per rules and the Representation of the People (RP) Act, a political candidate, who was convicted and facing a prison term of two years or more cannot contest the polls, unless the same is stayed by a court.
Patel, in his petition, claimed that he is a leader of the Patidar Andolan and started his protest in 2015, and due to this, the ruling party of the state of Gujarat registered an FIR against him.
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