The Supreme Court on Friday granted Congress leader Hardik Patel interim protection from arrest till the next hearing on March 6 and slammed the Gujarat police for “sitting on” its investigation into an unlawful assembly case in connection with the Patidar quota stir in 2015.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the police, objected to the grant of interim protection. The police said there had been no threat to the personal liberty of Mr. Patel in the past five years.
A Bench led by Justice U.U. Lalit responded that it was exactly because the police did nothing for the past five years in the case that the court decided to step in. “You have done nothing for the past five years. What is the evidence gathered” the court asked the police.
The hearing was based on appeal filed by Mr. Patel, the Patidhar movement chief, challenging a Gujarat High Court decision refusing him anticipatory bail in the case that relates to the violence during a rally at Vastrapur in Gujarat.
In the High Court, the police had argued that there were 10 cases against Mr. Patel and he had absconded for nearly a month fearing arrest.
The apex court indicated that a grant of interim protection for seven days - time enough for the State to file a response to Mr. Patel's appeal - was reasonable.
“If you could not do anything for five years, no harm waiting for seven days”, the court addressed the police.
It issued notice to the Gujarat government.
