Setback to Congress: Hardik Patel's plea for urgent listing of his case in Supreme Court rejected

The Supreme Court on Tuesday morning refused to accord an urgent hearing to Congress leader Hardik Patel on his plea challenging the Gujarat High Court order rejecting a stay on his conviction in the 2015 Visnagar rioting case.

After being denied an urgent hearing in the Gujarat High Court, Patel moved to the Supreme Court. The matter was then mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra. The bench also comprised of Justices M M Shantanagoudar and Navin Sinha who told the counsel appearing for Patel that there was no urgency in hearing the matter as the Visnagar sessions court heard the matter last year and the Gujarat High Court took up the matter last month. The Visnagar session court awarded him two-year jail term along with a fine of Rs 50,000 in the 2015 rioting case, which was linked to the Patidar quota agitation last year in July.

Justice Arun Mishra while rejecting his plea syaing that it was not urgent said:
 "The order was passed in August 2018. What is the urgency now”? 

Patel had sought a suspension of his conviction in a rioting case of 2015 in Visnagar in the Gujarat High Court. However, the Gujarat government, last week, had opposed his plea in the court by producing photographic evidence and documents that it claimed established his presence during the incident.

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Patel had already started his preparations to contest from Jamnagar in Gujarat on a Congress ticket after officially joining the party on March 12 in the presence of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. However, he received a massive setback when the Gujarat HC rejected his plea, meaning that he will not now be able to contest. Patel gathered fame in politics when he formed the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) and began the agitation for demanding reservation for Patidars in Gujarat.

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(inputs from PTI)