Hardik ready to stay out of Gujarat if High Court sets condition for bail

Jailed Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel on Monday told the Gujarat high court that he was ready to accept any condition, including staying out of the state for six months, that it may deem fit for granting him bail.

Justice AJ Desai reserved his order on the bail plea, after the prosecution and defence counsels concluded their arguments.

Hardik, an accused in two cases of sedition registered against him in Surat and Ahmedabad, has been lodged in a Surat jail since the last year in the wake of a violent stir by Patels, seeking reservation under the OBC category.

Opposing the bail plea, government pleader Mitesh Amin told the court that government was apprehensive that Hardik might repeat the offence and his presence outside jail might endanger the law-and-order situation in the state. Countering the argument, Hardik’s lawyer Zubin Bharda said Hardik was fine even if the court granted him bail on the condition that he stays out of Gujarat for another six months.