The Gujarat High Court, while dismissing Congress leader Hardik Patel’s plea for a stay on his conviction, also took note of the failure of the petitioner to prove as to how not contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will cause him “irreversible damage”. The High Court on Friday had rejected his application seeking a stay on his July 2018 conviction for rioting and arson, thereby making him ineligible to contest the Lok Sabha elections. The court order, made public on Saturday and accessed by The Sunday Express, stated, “Learned counsel for the applicant has not demonstrated in any manner that by denying an opportunity to contest the elections on account of disqualification under Section 8(3) of the Representation of People’s Act, an irreversible, irrevocable damage is likely to be caused to the applicant, merely for arguing the conviction recorded against the applicant cannot be stayed.” Explained | What next for Hardik Patel after HC refuses to stay conviction The court order also noted, “The applicant has the only submission in the present application that he being a social activist and a leader of his community, aspires to contest ensuing Lok Sabha elections. It is nowhere stated in the application that in the event he is denied the opportunity to contest the election on account of the Representation of People’s Act, an irreversible harm is likely to be caused to him.” Hardik, who joined the Congress earlier this March, had been convicted by a sessions court at Visnagar last July, which sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment for rioting and arson during the 2015 Patidar quota stir. The high court granted him bail with an undertaking and suspended his sentence in August 2018, although his conviction was not stayed. Click for more election news Despite the undertaking, the court Friday took note of the public prosecutor’s arguments regarding the provocative nature of Hardik’s speeches that saw 17 FIRs filed against him ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls. The HC order says: “The applicant (Hardik) gave inflammatory, instigating and violent speeches by attendance and showing disrespect to political leaders including women and also making insensitive comments on the issues like Babri Masjid and also such type of remarks for two different communities.” The court order mentioned that although such utterances were read by the respondent in court, it was “not worthy of being reproduced”. However, the court did take note that this amounted to “violating and breaching undertaking given by the applicant”. On this, the court noted that “no case is made out which can be considered as exceptional or a rare case as required under the provisions of the code for the grant of stay of conviction”. The court order further stated, “It is, therefore, very clear that despite having given an undertaking, the applicant has (been) involved in criminal cases, wherein now chargesheet is filed and now they are pending at various stages in different courts.” Hardik’s lawyer, I H Syed, said there was a lack of “legal evidence” in the Hardik’s conviction, using this plank as grounds for the grant of a stay on his client’s conviction. While the court took note of this, the order states, “It is difficult to accept submissions that conviction against the applicant is recorded on the basis of no legal evidence. A cursory glance at the evidence, cannot be, at least at this stage, said to be an evidence which is not legal evidence. Whether the evidence adduced by the prosecution is legal evidence or acceptable evidence, will be considered at the time of final hearing.” Hardik is expected to approach the Supreme Court on Monday. At this point, Hardik will be able to contest the Lok Sabha election only if the apex court rules favourably on or before April 4 - the date scheduled as the last day for filing nomination papers for a contesting candidate in Gujarat. Regardless, Hardik figures in the list of star campaigners of the Congress. Gujarat goes to polls on April 23, in a single phase.
